Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Hits New 52-Week Low - Here's What Happened

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $25.86 and last traded at $25.87, with a volume of 12387 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.22.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on VECO. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Securities reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

The business's fifty day moving average is $30.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.07. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 3.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 19.25 and a beta of 1.17.

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

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total transaction of $71,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,297,671.14. This trade represents a 3.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock worth $225,850. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $250,800,000 after buying an additional 391,346 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 50.3% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $87,485,000 after buying an additional 883,815 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 20.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $73,428,000 after buying an additional 371,221 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $69,308,000 after buying an additional 30,008 shares during the period. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 119.3% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $68,117,000 after buying an additional 793,429 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

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.