Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms have also commented on VECO. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Citigroup lifted 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. Zacks Research lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.33.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $44.83 on Friday. 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 has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.53 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.00. Veeco Instruments has a 52-week low of $25.28 and a 52-week high of $86.63.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.07. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 3.52% and a net margin of 3.40%.The company had revenue of $193.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.08 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CEO William Miller sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.18, for a total value of $10,836,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 169,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,187,302.60. This represents a 54.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO John Kiernan sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.05, for a total value of $1,786,750.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 68,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,512,342.10. The trade was a 33.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Tema ETFs LLC acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at $49,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at $69,000. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at $146,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Veeco Instruments

Veeco Instruments Inc develops and manufactures specialized equipment used in the production of semiconductors and other advanced electronic components. Its systems support processes such as thin-film deposition, etching, lithography-related applications, and thermal processing, helping manufacturers create and refine microscopic structures on wafers and other materials.

The company’s product portfolio includes metal-organic chemical vapor deposition systems for compound semiconductors, ion beam etch and deposition equipment, laser annealing systems, and other wafer-processing technologies.