Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Rating Lowered by Northland Capmk

Key Points

• Northland Capital Markets downgraded Veeco Instruments from a "strong-buy" to a "hold" rating, reflecting a shift in analyst sentiment towards the company's stock.
• The company reported earnings of $0.36 per share in its latest quarterly results, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.22, though its revenue declined 5.6% year-over-year.
• Insider selling activity includes CEO William John Miller selling 25,000 shares for $800,000, indicating potential concerns about the company's recent performance.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Northland Capmk from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Benchmark cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Northland Securities downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $27.71.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 4.1%

NASDAQ:VECO opened at $29.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.78 billion, a PE ratio of 29.02 and a beta of 1.27. 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 has a 52-week low of $16.92 and a 52-week high of $34.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.03.

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

Insider Activity

In other Veeco Instruments news, CEO William John Miller sold 25,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 514,543 shares in the company, valued at $16,465,376. The trade was a 4.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 3,851 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.00, for a total value of $130,934.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 78,269 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,661,146. This trade represents a 4.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,911 shares of company stock valued at $1,781,550 in the last 90 days. 2.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 75.6% during the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,366 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 213.9% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,139 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 2,139 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 33.6% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,366 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 49,728.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,488 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 3,481 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

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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