Insider Selling: Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) CFO Sells 2,500 Shares of Stock

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total value of $71,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,297,671.14. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $27.97. The stock had a trading volume of 571,895 shares, compared to its average volume of 661,454. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.06 and a 12-month high of $49.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company’s 50-day moving average is $30.93 and its 200 day moving average is $37.43. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 1.17.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Veeco Instruments’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 49,310 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,734,000 after buying an additional 639 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 45.4% during the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 12,818 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments in the first quarter valued at about $217,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.7% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 48,075 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 27,234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 13.7% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,592 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 1,755 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VECO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Benchmark lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Securities dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.14.

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.