BlackRock Inc. Takes $728.13 Million Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

Key Points

• BlackRock acquired 9.6 million Veeco Instruments shares worth approximately $728.1 million, giving it a 15.74% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 98.46% of VECO.
• Veeco exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.33 EPS versus $0.26 expected and $193.5 million in revenue, up 16.5% year over year. Management guided for fiscal 2026 EPS of $1.36–$1.61.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: the stock carries a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $49.33, while insiders have sold roughly $22.5 million of shares over the past 90 days.

BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 9,605,897 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $728,127,000. BlackRock Inc. owned approximately 15.74% of Veeco Instruments as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,342,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,820,357 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $52,026,000 after buying an additional 495,767 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1,164.3% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 477,386 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $13,644,000 after buying an additional 439,628 shares during the last quarter. AQR Arbitrage LLC acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter valued at $11,648,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 182.7% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 582,627 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $16,651,000 after acquiring an additional 376,553 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $47.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 3.93 and a quick ratio of 2.69. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.31 and a fifty-two week high of $86.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $58.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.57. The company has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of 132.94 and a beta of 1.38.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $193.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.08 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 3.52%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business 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. Analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 200,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.18, for a total transaction of $10,836,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 169,570 shares in the company, valued at $9,187,302.60. The trade was a 54.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Susan Wilkerson sold 35,723 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.69, for a total value of $2,203,751.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,974 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,651,066.06. This trade represents a 45.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 393,076 shares of company stock valued at $22,510,281. Corporate insiders own 2.70% 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.

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