Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) CFO Sells $71,675.00 in Stock

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total transaction of $71,675.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,297,671.14. This trade represents a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of VECO opened at $27.31 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.23 and a beta of 1.17. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.04 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VECO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Benchmark lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Northland Securities lowered their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.14.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 721.7% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,341 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $177,000 after acquiring an additional 4,691 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 50.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $87,485,000 after buying an additional 883,815 shares during the period. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the third quarter valued at about $2,109,000. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 31.6% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $607,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,428,000 after buying an additional 371,221 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

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.