Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $27.16, but opened at $28.55. Veeco Instruments shares last traded at $28.66, with a volume of 72,678 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.71.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 1.6 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.54. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 20.85 and a beta of 1.15.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. Veeco Instruments’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total transaction of $71,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,297,671.14. This represents a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. 272 Capital LP bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 116.2% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 1,949 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the 3rd 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 and hedge funds 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.