Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Veeco Instruments has a consensus analyst rating of “Hold” from seven research firms, with an average 12-month price target of $40.60.
• Recent analyst moves were mixed: Zacks downgraded the stock to hold, while Citigroup and Barclays raised their price targets significantly and maintained more positive stances.
• The company recently reported Q2 earnings of $0.14 per share, missing estimates, and revenue of $158.34 million, also slightly below expectations; the stock last traded at $57.40.

Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $40.60.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VECO shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Veeco Instruments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Veeco Instruments to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Veeco Instruments from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other news, Director Richard A. Damore sold 43,701 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total transaction of $2,653,087.71. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 112,594 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,835,581.74. The trade was a 27.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO William John Miller sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.62, for a total transaction of $2,931,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 369,570 shares in the company, valued at $21,664,193.40. This represents a 11.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 339,055 shares of company stock valued at $20,705,270. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Tema ETFs LLC bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 75.6% during the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,366 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 1,019 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 125.6% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,461 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 1,370 shares during the period. PVG Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the first quarter valued at about $84,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth about $77,000. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded down $0.05 on Friday, reaching $57.40. The company had a trading volume of 550,443 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,656,715. The firm has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 151.06 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 4.23 and a quick ratio of 2.86. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $63.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.35. Veeco Instruments has a 1 year low of $19.29 and a 1 year high of $86.63.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $158.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $160.07 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 3.53% and a return on equity of 3.49%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. 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, research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments will post 1.1 earnings per share 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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