Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

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

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective 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. Citigroup upped their target price on Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Veeco Instruments to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.60.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO opened at $53.35 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a PE ratio of 140.40 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $63.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.89. Veeco Instruments has a 1-year low of $19.29 and a 1-year high of $86.63.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted 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). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 3.53% and a return on equity of 3.49%. The firm had revenue of $158.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments will post 1.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other news, SVP Susan Wilkerson sold 35,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.69, for a total value of $2,203,751.87. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,651,066.06. This trade represents a 45.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gordon Hunter sold 29,532 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total transaction of $1,754,496.12. Following the sale, the director directly owned 52,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,129,481.16. This represents a 35.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 339,055 shares of company stock valued at $20,705,270 in the last ninety days. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,396,804 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,023,000 after acquiring an additional 157,978 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 9.7% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,215,031 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $65,329,000 after purchasing an additional 284,716 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,481,803 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $75,521,000 after purchasing an additional 26,248 shares during the last quarter. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY now owns 2,410,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $48,971,000 after buying an additional 30,000 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 495,767 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.