The Goldman Sachs Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Price

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) had its target price decreased by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $35.00 to $30.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.28% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Northland Securities decreased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.29.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded down $0.77 on Thursday, hitting $29.33. The stock had a trading volume of 352,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 658,547. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $31.33 and a 200 day moving average of $37.51. Veeco Instruments has a twelve month low of $26.23 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.64 and a beta of 1.17.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.21 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,642 shares in the company, valued at $2,696,608.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VECO. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 49,310 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,734,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 45.4% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 12,818 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $451,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter valued at $217,000. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter valued at $1,579,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter valued at $99,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.