Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on VECO. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Veeco Instruments to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.60.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 2.0%

NASDAQ:VECO opened at $53.35 on Monday. Veeco Instruments has a 1 year low of $19.29 and a 1 year high of $86.63. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 140.40 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $63.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.89.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $158.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.07 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 3.53% and a return on equity of 3.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $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, equities analysts expect that Veeco Instruments will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, Director Richard A. Damore sold 43,701 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total transaction of $2,653,087.71. Following the transaction, the director owned 112,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,835,581.74. The trade was a 27.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Susan Wilkerson sold 35,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.69, for a total value of $2,203,751.87. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,974 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,651,066.06. This represents a 45.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over 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 insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 75.6% in 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. lifted 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 valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 1,370 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $77,000. PVG Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter worth approximately $84,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $91,000. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Company Profile

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.