Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Short Interest Down 16.3% in February

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,430,000 shares, a decrease of 16.3% from the February 13th total of 6,490,000 shares. Approximately 9.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 710,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.6 days.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,780,455.42. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the period. 272 Capital LP acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 721.7% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,341 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $177,000 after buying an additional 4,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sciencast Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on VECO. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $21.16. 1,360,992 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 680,878. Veeco Instruments has a 1 year low of $20.05 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $23.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.49. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.06 and a beta of 1.24.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. Equities research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

About Veeco Instruments

Veeco Instruments Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and supports semiconductor and thin film process equipment primarily to make electronic devices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, China, Rest of the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers laser annealing, ion beam deposition and etch, metal organic chemical vapor deposition, single wafer wet processing and surface preparation, molecular beam epitaxy, advanced packaging lithography, atomic layer deposition, and other deposition systems.