Insider Selling: Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) CEO Sells 25,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Veeco Instruments CEO, William John Miller, sold 25,000 shares for $625,000, decreasing his position by 5.04%, and still holds 470,671 shares valued at approximately $11.77 million.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS of $0.36, surpassing expectations, although revenue declined by 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year.
• Brokerage firms have mixed ratings on Veeco Instruments, with target prices adjusted between $28.00 and $30.00, indicating a current average rating of "Moderate Buy."

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) CEO William John Miller sold 25,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $625,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 470,671 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,766,775. This represents a 5.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of VECO traded down $0.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $25.34. 653,117 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 862,412. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.92 and a twelve month high of $34.34. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 24.84 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.05. The company has a quick ratio of 3.43, a current ratio of 5.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.14. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 7.38%. The business had revenue of $166.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $151.31 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 133.3% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 76,895 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,563,000 after acquiring an additional 43,941 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 3.6% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 44,071 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $896,000 after acquiring an additional 1,516 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 11.2% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 204,371 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $4,153,000 after acquiring an additional 20,661 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth approximately $231,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 8.4% in the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 55,534 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,129,000 after acquiring an additional 4,301 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VECO. Benchmark dropped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $27.33.

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.