Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the seven brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $30.43.

VECO has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Benchmark lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $35.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $14,373,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted 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. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,477,260 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $200,391,000 after buying an additional 110,825 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 493,039 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $13,213,000 after acquiring an additional 64,824 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of VECO stock opened at $20.28 on Friday. Veeco Instruments has a 52-week low of $16.92 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.35 and a beta of 1.13. The firm's 50-day moving average is $19.31 and its 200-day moving average is $23.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.98.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $167.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.00 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Veeco Instruments will post 0.76 EPS 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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