Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Given New $31.00 Price Target at Benchmark

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) had its price objective dropped by equities researchers at Benchmark from $38.00 to $31.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective points to a potential upside of 27.90% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on VECO. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.86.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $24.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 477,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 665,088. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $26.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.12. Veeco Instruments has a 52 week low of $23.00 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.96 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. As a group, research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,780,455.42. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 47.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 28,001 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $928,000 after buying an additional 9,008 shares during the period. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $292,000. Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 23.7% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 71,783 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,378,000 after buying an additional 13,764 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 42.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 175,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,800,000 after buying an additional 52,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 130.6% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.