Needham & Company LLC Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Price

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $35.00 to $29.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the semiconductor company's stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price would suggest a potential upside of 17.55% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $35.00 price objective (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VECO traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $24.67. 885,723 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 595,984. The company has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.27 and a beta of 1.13. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $26.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.83. 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 has a twelve month low of $23.00 and a twelve month high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. As a group, analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 75,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,076,173.46. The trade was a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Man Group plc raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 351.9% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 53,504 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,434,000 after acquiring an additional 41,663 shares during the period. Needham Investment Management LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 731,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $19,591,000 after purchasing an additional 53,500 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 203.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 191,316 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $5,127,000 after purchasing an additional 128,179 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 31,609 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter worth $220,000. Institutional investors 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.