Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Price Down 3.3%

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) shares were down 3.3% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $35.22 and last traded at $35.23. Approximately 30,904 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 94% from the average daily volume of 509,954 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.42.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VECO shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.57.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.03.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,294,179.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total transaction of $170,500.00. Following 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. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,690,121 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $188,059,000 after purchasing an additional 450,685 shares during the last quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter worth $3,599,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 24.6% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,569,885 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,129,000 after purchasing an additional 310,390 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 168,501 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,737,000 after purchasing an additional 9,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lisanti Capital Growth LLC purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter worth $2,084,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.