Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $32.43.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VECO. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th.

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Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $44,314,000 after acquiring an additional 22,850 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 493,039 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $13,213,000 after acquiring an additional 64,824 shares during the period. PDT Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,109,000. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp bought a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter worth $633,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ:VECO traded down $0.38 on Friday, reaching $21.33. The stock had a trading volume of 244,775 shares, compared to its average volume of 681,718. Veeco Instruments has a 12-month low of $20.05 and a 12-month high of $49.25. The company has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20 and a beta of 1.24. The firm's fifty day moving average is $23.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69.

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

Veeco Instruments Company Profile

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.