Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) SVP Susan Wilkerson Sells 35,723 Shares of Stock

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) SVP Susan Wilkerson sold 35,723 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.69, for a total transaction of $2,203,751.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,974 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

VECO stock opened at $60.24 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.17. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.04 and a 52 week high of $65.43. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 158.53 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a current ratio of 4.23.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.06). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 3.53% and a return on equity of 3.49%. The company had revenue of $158.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. 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. Research analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VECO. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $48,342,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 920.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 676,502 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $20,586,000 after buying an additional 610,187 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 37.4% in the fourth 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. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1,164.3% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 477,386 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,644,000 after buying an additional 439,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Arbitrage LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $11,648,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VECO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.60.

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.