Hsbc Holdings PLC Acquires New Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

Key Points

• HSBC acquired a new Veeco Instruments stake of 34,187 shares valued at approximately $1.14 million, while institutional investors collectively own 98.46% of the company.
• Veeco insiders sold 339,055 shares worth about $20.7 million over the past quarter, including significant sales by the CEO and a director.
• The stock carries a consensus “Hold” rating with a $40.60 average price target. Veeco recently missed quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, with revenue down 5.4% year over year.

Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 34,187 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $1,141,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.06% of Veeco Instruments at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 75.6% during the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,366 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 125.6% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,461 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 1,370 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $77,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter valued at about $91,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 16,961.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,583 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 3,562 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO William John Miller sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Richard A. Damore sold 43,701 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total value of $2,653,087.71. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 112,594 shares in the company, valued at $6,835,581.74. This trade represents a 27.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 339,055 shares of company stock valued at $20,705,270 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 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. Wall Street Zen raised Veeco Instruments to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $40.60.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $45.68 on Wednesday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.29 and a 12 month high of $86.63. The company has a current ratio of 4.23, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 120.21 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $62.52 and a 200 day moving average of $46.42.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $160.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. Veeco Instruments's quarterly revenue 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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