Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $16.92 and last traded at $17.35, with a volume of 1219815 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $17.94.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VECO. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price objective (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 3.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.46. The stock has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.99 and a beta of 1.12.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. Equities research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,780,455.42. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 31.6% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $607,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,308,000 after purchasing an additional 30,008 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,965,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,314,000 after buying an additional 22,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the third quarter worth approximately $633,000. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

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.