Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $49.3333.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Veeco Instruments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.62, for a total transaction of $2,931,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 369,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,664,193.40. This trade represents a 11.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gordon Hunter sold 16,974 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.80, for a total value of $1,167,811.20. Following the sale, the director directly owned 11,236 shares in the company, valued at $773,036.80. This trade represents a 60.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 193,076 shares of company stock worth $11,674,281. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Tema ETFs LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 75.6% during the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,366 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Veeco Instruments during the second quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 125.6% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,461 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 6.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $53.26 on Thursday. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.77. Veeco Instruments has a 12-month low of $23.31 and a 12-month high of $86.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 147.94 and a beta of 1.38.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $193.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.08 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 3.52% and a net margin of 3.40%.The company’s revenue was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. 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 anticipate that Veeco Instruments will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.