Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on VECO. Northland Securities raised Veeco Instruments from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $66.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, September 21st. Citigroup decreased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $63.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Veeco Instruments from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.00.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 6.5%

VECO stock opened at $39.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a PE ratio of 99.00 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.92. Veeco Instruments has a 52 week low of $26.00 and a 52 week high of $86.63. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $209.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $213.33 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 3.85% and a net margin of 3.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments will post 0.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CEO William Miller sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.18, for a total transaction of $10,836,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 169,570 shares in the company, valued at $9,187,302.60. This represents a 54.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royce & Associates LP increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 7.0% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 277,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $14,379,000 after buying an additional 18,177 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter valued at $23,160,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 53.3% during the 3rd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 13,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $707,000 after acquiring an additional 4,738 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 31,016 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,610,000 after acquiring an additional 3,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Almanack Investment Partners LLC. grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. now owns 6,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

About Veeco Instruments

Veeco Instruments designs and manufactures process equipment used to make semiconductors and other advanced materials. Its systems support thin-film deposition, etching, lithography and related manufacturing processes.

The company’s product portfolio includes metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), ion beam and laser-processing systems. These tools serve applications in compound semiconductors, advanced packaging, data storage and scientific research.

Veeco serves customers around the world through its sales and service operations.