Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO Shares Acquired by Squarepoint Ops LLC

Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 52.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 112,540 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,753 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC owned 0.18% of Veeco Instruments worth $8,531,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VECO. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments during the second quarter worth $728,127,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 7,039.2% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,267,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $399,310,000 after acquiring an additional 5,194,159 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter valued at $156,557,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the second quarter valued at $134,434,000. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter valued at $48,342,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on VECO shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.33.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $43.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.93, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.94 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $50.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.04. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.27 and a 12-month high of $86.63.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $193.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.08 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 3.52%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. Veeco Instruments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.360-1.610 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.350-0.490 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CEO William Miller sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.18, for a total transaction of $10,836,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 169,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,187,302.60. This represents a 54.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO John Kiernan sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.05, for a total transaction of $1,786,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 68,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,512,342.10. This represents a 33.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments 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.