Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Up 6.3% – Here’s What Happened

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)’s stock price traded up 6.3% on Monday . The company traded as high as $29.64 and last traded at $29.62. 215,918 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 657,312 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on VECO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Securities decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.91 and a 200 day moving average of $36.44. The stock has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a PE ratio of 20.64 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 3.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. The business had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s 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 owns 82,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,696,608.46. This represents a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock worth $225,850 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 237.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 733.3% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.