Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from analysts, with a price target of $27.33.
• CEO William John Miller sold 25,000 shares for $625,000, resulting in a 5.04% reduction of his holdings in the company.
• Hedge funds increased their positions in Veeco by significant amounts, with Millennium Management's holdings rising by 203.0% in the last quarter.

Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $27.3333.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Benchmark dropped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $625,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 470,671 shares in the company, valued at $11,766,775. The trade was a 5.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 44.7% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 59,700 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,600,000 after purchasing an additional 18,439 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 3.5% during 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 period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 203.0% during 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 period. Man Group plc boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 351.9% during the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 53,504 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,434,000 after purchasing an additional 41,663 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 23,862 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $640,000 after buying an additional 7,093 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $25.34 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.84 and a beta of 1.23. Veeco Instruments has a 52-week low of $16.92 and a 52-week high of $34.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 3.43 and a current ratio of 5.10. The company's 50 day moving average price is $22.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.05.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $166.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.31 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 7.38%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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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