140,854 Shares in Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO Acquired by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 140,854 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,681,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VECO. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth $728,127,000. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the second quarter valued at $156,557,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter worth about $134,434,000. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,342,000. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 2nd quarter valued at about $65,836,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $44.30 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $54.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.35. The company has a current ratio of 3.93, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.31 and a 12-month high of $86.63. The firm has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.06 and a beta of 1.38.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $193.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.08 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 3.52%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $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. On average, research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.33.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.18, for a total transaction of $10,836,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 169,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,187,302.60. This represents a 54.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Susan Wilkerson sold 15,506 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.56, for a total transaction of $1,078,597.36. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 27,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,910,674.08. This represents a 36.08% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 284,232 shares of company stock valued at $15,949,801 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments 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.