Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $54.36, but opened at $50.77. Veeco Instruments shares last traded at $50.6950, with a volume of 285,272 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VECO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays increased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Zacks Research lowered Veeco Instruments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Veeco Instruments to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a current ratio of 4.23. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 137.56 and a beta of 1.34.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $158.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.07 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 3.49% and a net margin of 3.53%.Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. 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. Research analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 100,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.55, for a total transaction of $5,955,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 419,570 shares in the company, valued at $24,985,393.50. The trade was a 19.25% 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, Director Richard A. Damore sold 43,701 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 112,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,835,581.74. The trade was a 27.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 339,055 shares of company stock worth $20,705,270 in the last ninety days. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,342,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in 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. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1,164.3% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 477,386 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,644,000 after purchasing an additional 439,628 shares in the last quarter. AQR Arbitrage LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter valued at $11,648,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 182.7% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 582,627 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $16,651,000 after purchasing an additional 376,553 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is currently 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.