Gordon Hunter Sells 7,746 Shares of Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Director Gordon Hunter sold 7,746 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.76, for a total value of $455,154.96. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 82,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,830,542.08. The trade was a 8.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $61.46 on Wednesday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.85 and a twelve month high of $65.43. 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 market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 161.74 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $40.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.89.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.06). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 3.49% and a net margin of 3.53%.The business had revenue of $158.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. 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, analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VECO. Zacks Research downgraded Veeco Instruments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings lowered Veeco Instruments from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 75.6% during the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,366 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 125.6% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,461 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 1,370 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter valued at $77,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter valued at $91,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 16,961.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,583 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 3,562 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.