Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Veeco Instruments to “buy” from “hold,” although the broader analyst consensus remains “hold” with an average price target of $48.33.
• Veeco exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.33 in EPS versus $0.26 expected and $193.48 million in revenue versus $180.08 million forecast; revenue increased 16.5% year over year.
• Insiders sold approximately $14.3 million of stock over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own a substantial 98.46% of the company.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $48.33.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

VECO stock opened at $52.78 on Friday. Veeco Instruments has a 1-year low of $22.32 and a 1-year high of $86.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $61.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.28. The company has a market capitalization of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 146.61 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 3.93 and a quick ratio of 2.86.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $193.48 million for 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 quarterly revenue was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. 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 research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.62, for a total transaction of $2,931,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 369,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,664,193.40. This represents a 11.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Susan Wilkerson sold 15,506 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.56, for a total transaction of $1,078,597.36. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 27,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,910,674.08. This trade represents a 36.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 231,309 shares of company stock worth $14,295,115. Insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth $728,127,000. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter worth $48,342,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 37.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,820,357 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $52,026,000 after buying an additional 495,767 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1,164.3% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 477,386 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $13,644,000 after buying an additional 439,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Arbitrage LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter valued at $11,648,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

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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