Barclays Cuts Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Price Target to $25.00

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) had its price target dropped by analysts at Barclays from $30.00 to $25.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Barclays‘s target price points to a potential upside of 5.71% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.57.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO opened at $23.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.52 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.12. Veeco Instruments has a one year low of $23.00 and a one year high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.63, for a total transaction of $69,075.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,076,173.46. This trade represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 752 shares during the period. 272 Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter worth $50,000. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

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.