Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Down 9.6% – Should You Sell?

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)’s share price was down 9.6% on Monday . The company traded as low as $40.90 and last traded at $40.5310. Approximately 350,245 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 1,150,321 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VECO shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Zacks Research cut Veeco Instruments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.33.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 0.0%

The company has a current ratio of 3.93, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 113.56 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $49.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.32.

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

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John Kiernan sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 68,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,512,342.10. The trade was a 33.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO William Miller sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were 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 owned 169,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,187,302.60. The trade was a 54.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the second quarter valued at $728,127,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,374,292 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $80,391,000 after purchasing an additional 68,780 shares during the period. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at about $156,557,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 37.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,820,357 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $52,026,000 after purchasing an additional 495,767 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth approximately $134,434,000. 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.