Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Trading 6.1% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) was up 6.1% during trading on Wednesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $33.00 to $35.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Veeco Instruments traded as high as $40.30 and last traded at $39.78. Approximately 281,589 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily volume of 519,968 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.49.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Veeco Instruments from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Benchmark raised their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.43.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total value of $170,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,294,179.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total value of $170,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,294,179.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 545,091 shares in the company, valued at $19,241,712.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VECO. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the first quarter worth $33,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1,311.0% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,284 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the first quarter worth $99,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of -60.45 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.91. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.09. Veeco Instruments had a positive return on equity of 11.10% and a negative net margin of 4.56%. The firm had revenue of $173.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.00 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

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.