Insider Selling: Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Director Sells 7,746 Shares of Stock

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Director Gordon Hunter sold 7,746 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.76, for a total transaction of $455,154.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 82,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,830,542.08. This trade represents a 8.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO stock traded up $1.80 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $61.22. The stock had a trading volume of 2,039,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,159,502. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.22. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.85 and a 12 month high of $65.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 161.11 and a beta of 1.36.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.14 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $158.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. Veeco Instruments’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on VECO shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,374,292 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $80,391,000 after acquiring an additional 68,780 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 293,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,922,000 after acquiring an additional 6,338 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1,548.5% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 15,084 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 14,169 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the first quarter worth approximately $1,141,000. Finally, Econ Financial Services Corp purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the first quarter worth approximately $894,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Veeco Instruments

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.