Short Interest in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Drops By 21.9%

Posted by MarketBeat News on Aug 1st, 2022

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO – Get Rating) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,920,000 shares, a drop of 21.9% from the June 30th total of 3,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 453,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.4 days. Approximately 5.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VECO shares. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 5th. Barclays decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.50.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of VECO stock opened at $21.80 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $19.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.09. Veeco Instruments has a 12 month low of $17.23 and a 12 month high of $32.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.06 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 9th. The semiconductor company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.02. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 15.58% and a net margin of 6.09%. The firm had revenue of $156.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $154.95 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, Director Dennis Thomas St purchased 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $21.60 per share, with a total value of $54,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 52,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,132,466.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $20.79 per share, for a total transaction of $103,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 89,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,853,594.82. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Dennis Thomas St purchased 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $21.60 per share, for a total transaction of $54,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 52,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,132,466.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.3% in the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 20,428 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 5.9% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 10,286 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $280,000 after buying an additional 577 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 56,490 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,608,000 after buying an additional 726 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 125.0% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,115 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 1,175 shares during the period. 97.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Veeco Instruments

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Veeco Instruments Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and supports semiconductor and thin film process equipment primarily to make electronic devices worldwide. 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, and atomic layer deposition and other deposition systems, as well as packaging lithography equipment.