The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Invests $134.43 Million in Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,773,530 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,434,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 2.90% of Veeco Instruments at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tema ETFs LLC purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 75.6% during 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 last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $69,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings 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 worth $70,000 after buying an additional 1,370 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted 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 report on Tuesday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report 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 note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.33.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $46.76 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.89 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.80. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.31 and a 52 week high of $86.63.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.07. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 3.52% and a net margin of 3.40%.The firm had revenue of $193.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.08 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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. As a group, analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gordon Hunter sold 16,974 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.80, for a total transaction of $1,167,811.20. Following the sale, the director owned 11,236 shares in the company, valued at $773,036.80. This trade represents a 60.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.05, for a total transaction of $1,786,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 68,802 shares in the company, valued at $3,512,342.10. This trade represents a 33.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 334,232 shares of company stock valued at $18,880,801. Company insiders own 2.70% 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.