Analysts Set Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) PT at $30.43

Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.43.

VECO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup cut their target price on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 9,391 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 33.6% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,366 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1.1% during the first quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 92,709 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,862,000 after acquiring an additional 987 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 396.2% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,295 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

NASDAQ VECO traded down $0.75 on Monday, reaching $20.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 87,336 shares, compared to its average volume of 740,822. 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 has a twelve month low of $16.92 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54 and a beta of 1.13. The firm's 50 day moving average is $19.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.12.

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

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.