Insider Buying: Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) CFO Acquires 5,000 Shares of Stock

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO – Get Rating) CFO John P. Kiernan bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $20.79 per share, with a total value of $103,950.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 89,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,853,594.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded up $1.24 on Wednesday, hitting $20.99. The stock had a trading volume of 35,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 504,210. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.68 and a twelve month high of $32.40. The business’s 50 day moving average is $25.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.77. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.31 and a beta of 1.35.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 9th. The semiconductor company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.03. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 13.67% and a net margin of 4.46%. The company had revenue of $156.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $154.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 74.0% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 189,384 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,149,000 after purchasing an additional 80,537 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 6.5% in the first quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 26,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 22,733 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $618,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 27.1% during the first quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 33,607 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $914,000 after buying an additional 7,174 shares in the last quarter. 97.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VECO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Veeco Instruments from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 11th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 11th. Zacks Investment Research raised Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 20th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, May 5th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Veeco Instruments in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.14.

About Veeco Instruments (Get Rating)

Veeco Instruments Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and supports semiconductor and thin film process equipment primarily to make electronic devices worldwide. 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, and atomic layer deposition and other deposition systems, as well as packaging lithography equipment.

Further Reading