Insider Selling: Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) CEO Sells 200,000 Shares

Key Points

• Veeco Instruments CEO William John Miller sold 200,000 shares at an average price of $54.18, generating $10.84 million. The Rule 10b5-1 transaction reduced his ownership by 54.12%, leaving him with 169,570 shares.
• VECO shares fell to $47.42, while the company reported quarterly EPS of $0.33 and revenue of $193.48 million, surpassing analyst estimates and increasing revenue 16.5% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: Veeco has a consensus “Hold” rating and a $49.33 price target, despite some upgrades and Citigroup’s $63 “Buy” target. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company.

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) CEO William John Miller sold 200,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.18, for a total transaction of $10,836,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 169,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,187,302.60. This trade represents a 54.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

William John Miller also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, June 2nd, William John Miller sold 50,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.62, for a total transaction of $2,931,000.00.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO traded down $3.49 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $47.42. The stock had a trading volume of 1,147,009 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,225,800. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 131.72 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.35. The company has a current ratio of 3.93, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.31 and a 1 year high of $86.63.

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 firm had revenue of $193.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $180.08 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 3.52%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 29.6% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 134,088 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,692,000 after purchasing an additional 30,646 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 51.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 29,785 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $598,000 after buying an additional 10,122 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 33,043 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $664,000 after buying an additional 1,434 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 148.0% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 474,415 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $9,526,000 after buying an additional 283,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 1st quarter worth about $618,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VECO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Veeco Instruments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Barclays boosted their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $49.33.

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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