Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Given New $55.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Key Points

• Citigroup lowered its price target on Veeco Instruments from $63 to $55 but maintained a Buy rating; the target implies about 48% upside from the prior close. Analyst consensus remains Hold, with a $50 average target.
• Veeco reported quarterly EPS of $0.36, below the $0.43 consensus, and revenue of $209.38 million, short of estimates. Revenue nevertheless grew 26.2% year over year.
• CEO William Miller and CFO John Kiernan both sold shares under pre-arranged trading plans, reducing their respective holdings by about 54% and 34%.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by research analysts at Citigroup from $63.00 to $55.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the semiconductor company's stock. Citigroup's price target suggests a potential upside of 47.89% from the company's previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings cut Veeco Instruments from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Northland Securities raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $66.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, September 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $50.00.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

NASDAQ VECO traded up $3.94 on Friday, hitting $37.19. 1,104,227 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,093,128. The company has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.97 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 3.93, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business's 50 day moving average price is $45.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.86. Veeco Instruments has a 52-week low of $26.00 and a 52-week high of $86.63.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $209.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $213.33 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 3.62% and a return on equity of 3.85%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Veeco Instruments will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veeco Instruments news, CEO William Miller sold 200,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.18, for a total transaction of $10,836,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 169,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,187,302.60. This trade represents a 54.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO John Kiernan sold 35,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.05, for a total value of $1,786,750.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 68,802 shares in the company, valued at $3,512,342.10. This trade represents a 33.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at about $728,127,000. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the second quarter valued at about $156,557,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth about $134,434,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,374,292 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $80,391,000 after purchasing an additional 68,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth about $65,836,000. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

About Veeco Instruments

Veeco Instruments Inc NASDAQ: VECO develops and manufactures specialized equipment used in the production of semiconductors and other advanced electronic devices. Its systems help customers deposit, etch, pattern, anneal and otherwise process thin films and materials at the wafer level.

The company's product portfolio includes metal-organic chemical vapor deposition systems, molecular beam epitaxy equipment, ion beam etch and deposition systems, laser annealing systems, and related process-control and automation technologies.

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