Legal & General Group Plc Sells 9,077 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 148,167 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 9,077 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $4,235,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. New York Life Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter valued at $1,808,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 32.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,324,590 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $40,307,000 after purchasing an additional 325,357 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 11.0% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 746,429 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $22,714,000 after purchasing an additional 74,106 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,663,310 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $233,195,000 after purchasing an additional 62,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 28.9% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 479,408 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $14,588,000 after purchasing an additional 107,527 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.55, for a total value of $5,955,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 419,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,985,393.50. This trade represents a 19.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan Wilkerson sold 35,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.69, for a total transaction of $2,203,751.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,974 shares in the company, valued at $2,651,066.06. This represents a 45.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 296,575 shares of company stock worth $17,808,862 over the last ninety days. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $61.04 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $50.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 160.64 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 4.23, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.29 and a 12-month high of $65.43.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.14 earnings per share (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 was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business 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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.1 EPS for the current year.

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.