Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Veeco Instruments has a consensus analyst rating of "Hold" from seven brokerages, with an average 1-year price target of $40.60. Views are mixed, ranging from sell to strong buy.
• The company reported Q1 earnings of $0.14 per share, missing estimates, while revenue of $158.34 million also came in slightly below expectations and declined 5.4% year over year.
• Insider activity has been notable, with directors and executives selling shares recently; meanwhile, 98.46% of the stock is held by institutional investors.

Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $40.60.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VECO shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Veeco Instruments to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Citigroup raised their target price 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. Zacks Research raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. 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. Finally, Barclays raised 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other news, Director Gordon Hunter sold 29,532 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total transaction of $1,754,496.12. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 52,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,129,481.16. This trade represents a 35.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $650,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 85,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,532,475. This represents a 10.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 339,055 shares of company stock valued at $20,705,270. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VECO. New York Life Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,808,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 32.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,324,590 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $40,307,000 after buying an additional 325,357 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 11.0% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 746,429 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $22,714,000 after buying an additional 74,106 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,663,310 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $233,195,000 after buying an additional 62,016 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 292,360 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $8,356,000 after buying an additional 28,967 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $83.04 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 4.23 and a quick ratio of 2.86. Veeco Instruments has a 1-year low of $19.29 and a 1-year high of $86.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 218.53 and a beta of 1.39. The company's 50-day moving average is $54.27 and its 200 day moving average is $39.46.

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 for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.06). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 3.49% and a net margin of 3.53%.The firm had revenue of $158.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $160.07 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.1 EPS for the current 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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