Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) CFO John P. Kiernan Sells 2,500 Shares

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.63, for a total transaction of $69,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,076,173.46. This trade represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Veeco Instruments stock traded down $0.56 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $26.13. 594,978 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 640,640. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.52 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 19.36 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 3.54.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The firm had revenue of $184.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VECO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised Veeco Instruments from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $39.71.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VECO. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. 272 Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 116.2% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,626 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 1,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company's stock.

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.

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