Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Price

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at Citigroup from $60.00 to $63.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Citigroup’s price target indicates a potential upside of 24.24% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on VECO. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their target price on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.33.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 3.9%

Shares of VECO stock traded down $2.07 during trading on Monday, hitting $50.71. 118,264 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,244,630. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.66 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.39. Veeco Instruments has a twelve month low of $23.31 and a twelve month high of $86.63.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 3.52%. The firm had revenue of $193.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.08 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. The company’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, analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Veeco Instruments news, Director Richard A. Damore sold 43,701 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.71, for a total transaction of $2,653,087.71. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 112,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,835,581.74. This represents a 27.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO William John Miller sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.62, for a total value of $2,931,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 369,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,664,193.40. This trade represents a 11.92% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 231,309 shares of company stock valued at $14,295,115. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VECO. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the first quarter valued at about $904,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 495,767 shares during the period. Nano Cap New Millennium Growth Fund L P acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter worth about $1,572,000. New York Life Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter worth about $1,808,000. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 292,360 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,356,000 after purchasing an additional 28,967 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.