Veeco Instruments' (VECO) "Hold" Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Veeco Instruments' stock has been reiterated with a "hold" rating by Needham & Company LLC, while Benchmark has lowered its price target from $31.00 to $28.00, maintaining a "buy" rating.
• In its latest quarterly earnings, Veeco Instruments reported an EPS of $0.36, surpassing expectations of $0.22, despite a 5.6% year-over-year revenue decline.
• Insider transactions included CEO William John Miller selling 25,000 shares, indicating a 5.04% decrease in his ownership, while institutional investors control 98.46% of the company's stocks.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reissued by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports.

Separately, Benchmark lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.33.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $33.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.10, a quick ratio of 3.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Veeco Instruments has a 1 year low of $16.92 and a 1 year high of $34.45. The company has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a PE ratio of 32.45 and a beta of 1.27. The company's 50-day moving average is $25.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.83.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veeco Instruments news, CEO William John Miller sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $625,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 470,671 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,766,775. This represents a 5.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 4,046 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.00, for a total value of $105,196.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 86,134 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,239,484. This trade represents a 4.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 33,060 shares of company stock valued at $850,616. Insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 9,391 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 396.2% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,295 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 8,786.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 176,845 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,551,000 after buying an additional 174,855 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 176,679 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,548,000 after buying an additional 13,613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 10,288.7% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,817 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 13,684 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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