MKS Inc. $MKSI Stake Boosted by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 298.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 83,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 62,262 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in MKS were worth $13,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 43.0% during the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 17,492 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,795,000 after acquiring an additional 5,259 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 168.3% during the fourth quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 62,830 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $10,040,000 after acquiring an additional 39,408 shares during the period. Optas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Finally, Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,764,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of MKS from $295.00 to $290.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on MKS from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on MKS from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.77.

MKS Stock Up 0.8%

MKS stock opened at $280.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $18.89 billion, a PE ratio of 64.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $244.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.32. MKS Inc. has a twelve month low of $67.87 and a twelve month high of $289.49.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. MKS had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 20.85%. MKS’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.15 EPS. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 9.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.88%.

Insider Activity at MKS

In other news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.77, for a total transaction of $7,703,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 154,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,721,291.92. This trade represents a 16.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.97, for a total value of $2,539,700.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 40,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,163,117.49. This trade represents a 19.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 68,503 shares of company stock worth $17,288,099. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.