Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Price Target Increased to $39.00 by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 0.74% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Benchmark upped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.00.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 4.8 %

Shares of VECO opened at $39.29 on Thursday. Veeco Instruments has a 52 week low of $19.05 and a 52 week high of $40.30. The firm has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -60.45 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 3.24.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $173.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.00 million. On average, analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $854,295.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 545,091 shares in the company, valued at $19,241,712.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $854,295.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 545,091 shares in the company, valued at $19,241,712.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total value of $170,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,294,179.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 7.2% during the third 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 period. Blue Grotto Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,476,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 24.6% during the third 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 period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,705,572 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $52,924,000 after purchasing an additional 135,687 shares during the period. Finally, Phocas Financial Corp. acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,599,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by 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.