Royal Bank of Canada Sells 1,161,839 Shares of MKS Inc. $MKSI

Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its holdings in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 88.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 153,003 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,161,839 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in MKS were worth $35,161,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,254,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $200,438,000 after purchasing an additional 5,551 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in MKS by 44.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 982,643 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $97,635,000 after buying an additional 301,223 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MKS in the 4th quarter worth about $147,453,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in MKS by 63.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $87,249,000 after buying an additional 340,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in MKS by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 870,654 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $139,131,000 after acquiring an additional 24,349 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKSI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of MKS in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $453.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.57.

Insider Transactions at MKS

In other news, EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,355 shares of MKS stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.94, for a total transaction of $1,393,338.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 49,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,817,513.66. The trade was a 8.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total value of $826,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,400,700.50. This trade represents a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months, insiders have sold 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

MKS Trading Up 4.2%

Shares of MKS stock opened at $309.98 on Tuesday. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.49 and a 1-year high of $447.62. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $349.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $286.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.94 billion, a PE ratio of 64.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.98.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.MKS’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.71 EPS. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 11.81 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.