Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Down 6.8% – What’s Next?

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)’s share price traded down 6.8% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $76.02 and last traded at $77.3780. 967,479 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 22% from the average session volume of 1,233,822 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.04.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. 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 research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen raised Veeco Instruments to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Veeco Instruments from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.60.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $54.27 and its 200 day moving average is $39.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.70 billion, a PE ratio of 203.12 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 4.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veeco Instruments news, SVP Susan Wilkerson sold 15,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,910,674.08. The trade was a 36.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gordon Hunter sold 16,974 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.80, for a total transaction of $1,167,811.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 11,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $773,036.80. This represents a 60.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 339,055 shares of company stock valued at $20,705,270. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,342,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 920.1% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 676,502 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $20,586,000 after acquiring an additional 610,187 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted 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 period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1,164.3% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, AQR Arbitrage LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter worth $11,648,000. 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.