Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Lowered to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

VECO has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.60.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $53.35 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 140.40 and a beta of 1.34. Veeco Instruments has a 1-year low of $19.29 and a 1-year high of $86.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $63.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.89. The company has a current ratio of 4.23, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.06). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 3.53% and a return on equity of 3.49%. The business had revenue of $158.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Veeco Instruments has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.200-0.320 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 1.500-1.850 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Veeco Instruments will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Susan Wilkerson sold 35,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.69, for a total transaction of $2,203,751.87. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,651,066.06. This trade represents a 45.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO William John Miller sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.55, for a total value of $5,955,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 419,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,985,393.50. This represents a 19.25% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 339,055 shares of company stock worth $20,705,270. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter worth about $48,342,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,820,357 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $52,026,000 after acquiring an additional 495,767 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1,164.3% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 477,386 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,644,000 after buying an additional 439,628 shares during the last quarter. AQR Arbitrage LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,648,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 182.7% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 582,627 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $16,651,000 after purchasing an additional 376,553 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Company Profile

Veeco Instruments Inc (NASDAQ: VECO) is a leading supplier of process equipment for the semiconductor, data storage, wireless communications, power electronics and advanced packaging industries. The company designs, manufactures and services precision tools used to grow, deposit and etch thin films on substrates, enabling the fabrication of chips, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and high-density storage devices. Veeco’s platforms are deployed across fabrication facilities worldwide, where they support key processes in materials science and device manufacturing.

Veeco’s product portfolio spans molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), ion beam etch and deposition, and high-precision wet and dry etch systems.