Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $30.43.

A number of research firms have weighed in on VECO. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price target (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO stock opened at $19.20 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50-day moving average is $19.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.27. Veeco Instruments has a 1 year low of $16.92 and a 1 year high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. The company had revenue of $167.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 396.2% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,295 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 213.9% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,139 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 2,139 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 33.6% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,366 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 75.9% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,672 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 1,584 shares during the period. 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.