Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Trading Down 3.3%

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)’s stock price fell 3.3% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $35.22 and last traded at $35.23. 30,904 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 94% from the average session volume of 509,954 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.42.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VECO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.57.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 3.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $35.22 and a 200-day moving average of $31.07.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.09. Veeco Instruments had a positive return on equity of 11.10% and a negative net margin of 4.56%. The firm had revenue of $173.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.00 million. Analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total transaction of $170,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,278 shares in the company, valued at $2,294,179.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $854,295.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 545,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,241,712.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total value of $170,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 67,278 shares in the company, valued at $2,294,179.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $713,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,739,727 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $209,134,000 after purchasing an additional 49,606 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,442 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $821,000 after purchasing an additional 4,867 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 56.6% in the 4th quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 34,843 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 12,598 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 153,945 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,777,000 after acquiring an additional 4,393 shares during the last quarter. 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.