Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Price Up 4.6%

Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) rose 4.6% on Monday . The company traded as high as $41.38 and last traded at $41.28. Approximately 58,676 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 589,446 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.46.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VECO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.14.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 1.0 %

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.06. The company has a current ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $174.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.00 million. Research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 2,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,026.13. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Dennis Thomas St sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.72, for a total value of $150,880.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 51,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,956,196.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $94,026.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,526,205. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,690,121 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $188,059,000 after buying an additional 450,685 shares in the last quarter. Blue Grotto Capital LLC acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $11,476,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,705,572 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $52,924,000 after purchasing an additional 135,687 shares in the last quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $3,599,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 132.1% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 195,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,858,000 after purchasing an additional 111,000 shares in 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.