Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Trading Down 3.3%

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) dropped 3.3% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $35.22 and last traded at $35.23. Approximately 30,904 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 94% from the average daily volume of 509,954 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.42.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.57.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 2.4 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $35.22 and its 200 day moving average is $31.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.09. Veeco Instruments had a negative net margin of 4.56% and a positive return on equity of 11.10%. The firm had revenue of $173.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.00 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $854,295.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 545,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,241,712.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Veeco Instruments news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total transaction of $170,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,294,179.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $854,295.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 545,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,241,712.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,364,379 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $145,858,000 after purchasing an additional 988,143 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 728.1% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,115,228 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $20,721,000 after purchasing an additional 980,562 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors Inc. now owns 3,221,333 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,588,000 after purchasing an additional 718,458 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 53.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,554,426 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $43,695,000 after purchasing an additional 543,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,690,121 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $188,059,000 after purchasing an additional 450,685 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

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.