Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Price Down 5.1% – Here’s What Happened

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)’s stock price fell 5.1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $67.00 and last traded at $66.9270. Approximately 115,146 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 1,281,204 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.52.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VECO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Zacks Research raised Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.60.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

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 fifty day moving average price of $62.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.46. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 151.29 and a beta of 1.34.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $158.34 million during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Richard A. Damore sold 43,701 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total value of $2,653,087.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 112,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,835,581.74. This represents a 27.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Susan Wilkerson sold 15,506 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.56, for a total value of $1,078,597.36. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 27,468 shares in the company, valued at $1,910,674.08. This represents a 36.08% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 339,055 shares of company stock worth $20,705,270 in the last ninety days. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,820,357 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $52,026,000 after acquiring an additional 495,767 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $1,808,000. Nano Cap New Millennium Growth Fund L P bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $1,572,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 74,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 28,967 shares during the last quarter. 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.