Oppenheimer Reiterates Outperform Rating for Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO)

Oppenheimer reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has a $35.00 price target on the semiconductor company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $40.00.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased 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 report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup raised Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.00.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $24.38 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.06 and a beta of 1.13. Veeco Instruments has a 1 year low of $23.24 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 3.54.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The company had revenue of $184.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.63, for a total transaction of $69,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,076,173.46. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. 272 Capital LP bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the third quarter valued at about $50,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 116.2% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 1,949 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Veeco Instruments

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.