Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Gets Downgrade from Wall Street Zen

by · The Cerbat Gem

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO – Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

VECO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $63.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Northland Securities raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $66.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.00.

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Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VECO opened at $37.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.87. Veeco Instruments has a 52-week low of $26.00 and a 52-week high of $86.63. The firm has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.97 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s fifty day moving average is $45.03 and its 200 day moving average is $46.89.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.07). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 3.81% and a net margin of 3.62%. The company had revenue of $209.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $213.33 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CEO William Miller sold 200,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.18, for a total transaction of $10,836,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 169,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,187,302.60. The trade was a 54.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tema ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at $49,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 2nd quarter worth $69,000. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 2nd quarter worth $146,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Company Profile

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Veeco Instruments Inc (NASDAQ: VECO) develops and manufactures specialized equipment used in the production of semiconductors and other advanced electronic devices. Its systems help customers deposit, etch, pattern, anneal and otherwise process thin films and materials at the wafer level.

The company’s product portfolio includes metal-organic chemical vapor deposition systems, molecular beam epitaxy equipment, ion beam etch and deposition systems, laser annealing systems, and related process-control and automation technologies.

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