Benchmark Has Lowered Expectations for Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Price

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) had its price target lowered by investment analysts at Benchmark from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Benchmark’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 32.50% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup cut shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Northland Securities dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $28.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 2.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a PE ratio of 21.24 and a beta of 1.17. Veeco Instruments has a one year low of $26.23 and a one year high of $49.25. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $31.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.43.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $175.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 11.13%. Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total value of $72,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,472,523.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during 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 last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 237.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter valued at $99,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 733.3% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. 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.