Royce & Associates LP Sells 57,150 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP cut its Veeco Instruments stake by 11% in the fourth quarter, selling 57,150 shares and leaving it with 462,423 shares valued at about $13.2 million.
• Insider selling has been notable, with SVP Susan Wilkerson and Adrian Devasahayam both selling shares recently; insiders have sold 272,109 shares worth $14.9 million over the last three months.
• Veeco’s earnings and analyst sentiment were mixed: the company missed quarterly EPS estimates and revenue slightly fell year over year, while analysts currently have a consensus Hold rating with an average price target of $40.60.

Royce & Associates LP lowered its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 462,423 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 57,150 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.77% of Veeco Instruments worth $13,216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VECO. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 75.6% in 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. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter worth $91,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 3,562 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 152.4% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,160 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,719 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,421 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other news, SVP Susan Wilkerson sold 35,723 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.69, for a total transaction of $2,203,751.87. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,974 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,651,066.06. This represents a 45.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,407 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.84, for a total transaction of $334,368.88. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 95,115 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,881,911.60. This represents a 5.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 272,109 shares of company stock valued at $14,936,860. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $40.60.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 3.6%

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $60.24 on Thursday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.04 and a 1-year high of $65.43. The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of 158.53 and a beta of 1.36. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $46.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.17.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $158.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.07 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 3.49% and a net margin of 3.53%.The company's revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. 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, equities analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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