Short Interest in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Drops By 15.9%

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,820,000 shares, a decline of 15.9% from the September 30th total of 5,730,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 816,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VECO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Northland Securities reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of VECO stock traded up $0.61 on Tuesday, hitting $29.85. The stock had a trading volume of 103,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 653,232. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $32.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.80. Veeco Instruments has a 1 year low of $23.63 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 2.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -64.98 and a beta of 1.16.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $175.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.21 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,642 shares in the company, valued at $2,696,608.46. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VECO. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 237.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter worth approximately $99,000. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 733.3% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $117,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently 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.