Oppenheimer Boosts Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Price Target to $55.00

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) had its price objective increased by Oppenheimer from $45.00 to $55.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target points to a potential upside of 17.75% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Veeco Instruments from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $46.71 on Thursday. Veeco Instruments has a one year low of $23.63 and a one year high of $48.48. The company has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -103.80 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 2.02 and a current ratio of 3.05. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.93.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a positive return on equity of 11.97% and a negative net margin of 2.51%. The firm had revenue of $174.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.00 million. On average, research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.39, for a total value of $108,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,026.13. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.39, for a total transaction of $108,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,026.13. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO William John Miller sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total value of $1,145,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 515,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,671,325.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,405,055. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $250,800,000 after acquiring an additional 391,346 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,645,701 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $82,096,000 after acquiring an additional 53,715 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,326,385 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $72,189,000 after acquiring an additional 87,605 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,705,572 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $52,924,000 after acquiring an additional 135,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 449,478 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,947,000 after acquiring an additional 13,963 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is 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.