MKS Inc. $MKSI Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 3,832 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in MKS were worth $15,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MKSI. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in shares of MKS by 560.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of MKS by 616.7% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of MKS by 74.5% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 260 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the third quarter worth $37,000. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup boosted their target price on MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total transaction of $6,668,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,673,667.80. This represents a 49.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $3,154,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. This trade represents a 6.46% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,423 shares of company stock worth $17,758,856. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKSI stock opened at $317.62 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70. MKS Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.22 and a fifty-two week high of $339.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $278.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $226.08. The firm has a market cap of $21.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.45, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.99.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.71 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

About MKS

MKS Instruments, Inc (NASDAQ: MKSI) designs, manufactures and markets technology solutions that enable advanced processes in a variety of high‐technology and industrial markets. The company’s core offerings include vacuum and gas delivery systems, pressure and flow measurement instruments, optical metrology tools, photonics subsystems and critical components for manufacturing processes. These products support the precise control and monitoring needs of semiconductor, industrial manufacturing, life and health sciences, and research applications.

The company’s product portfolio features mass flow controllers, pressure transducers, vacuum gauges, gas purity monitors, laser-based metrology systems and photonic devices such as lasers and detectors.