Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $27.50.

VECO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

NASDAQ VECO opened at $31.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.90 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $31.24 and a 200 day moving average of $28.54. The company has a current ratio of 5.36, a quick ratio of 3.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Veeco Instruments has a twelve month low of $16.92 and a twelve month high of $35.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veeco Instruments news, CEO William John Miller sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 464,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,865,376. This represents a 5.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,663,310 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $233,195,000 after buying an additional 62,016 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 4.9% during the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,396,804 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,023,000 after acquiring an additional 157,978 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,215,031 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $65,329,000 after acquiring an additional 284,716 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,481,803 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $75,521,000 after acquiring an additional 26,248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY now owns 2,410,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $48,971,000 after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

About Veeco Instruments

Veeco Instruments Inc (NASDAQ: VECO) is a leading supplier of process equipment for the semiconductor, data storage, wireless communications, power electronics and advanced packaging industries. The company designs, manufactures and services precision tools used to grow, deposit and etch thin films on substrates, enabling the fabrication of chips, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and high-density storage devices. Veeco’s platforms are deployed across fabrication facilities worldwide, where they support key processes in materials science and device manufacturing.

Veeco’s product portfolio spans molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), ion beam etch and deposition, and high-precision wet and dry etch systems.