Insider Selling: Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) CEO Sells 30,000 Shares of Stock

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) CEO William John Miller sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total value of $1,145,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 515,091 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,671,325.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

William John Miller also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, March 21st, William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of Veeco Instruments stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $854,295.30.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of VECO traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $38.01. The company had a trading volume of 533,723 shares, compared to its average volume of 529,830. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.44 and a 52 week high of $40.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 3.24. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -58.57 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.96.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.09. Veeco Instruments had a positive return on equity of 11.10% and a negative net margin of 4.56%. The business had revenue of $173.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.00 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.8% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 485,924 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $13,659,000 after buying an additional 3,768 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,507 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 2,347 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 202.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 28,122 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $755,000 after purchasing an additional 18,810 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.7% in the third quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 16,723 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 28.3% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,543 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VECO. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Benchmark lifted their price target on Veeco Instruments from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $39.00.

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.

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