Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Given Outperform Rating at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer reissued their outperform rating on shares of Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has a $35.00 price target on the semiconductor company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $40.00.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.00.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VECO opened at $24.38 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.54. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 3.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 18.06 and a beta of 1.13. Veeco Instruments has a fifty-two week low of $23.24 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The company had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Veeco Instruments will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.63, for a total transaction of $69,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,076,173.46. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. 272 Capital LP purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 116.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,949 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.