MKS Inc. $MKSI Shares Sold by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP lessened its position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 827,127 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 87,984 shares during the period. MKS makes up approximately 1.0% of Royce & Associates LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in MKS were worth $102,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of MKS by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,462 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management raised its holdings in MKS by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,057 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in 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 in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in MKS by 1.1% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 10,964 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steph & Co. grew its holdings in MKS by 30.4% in the third quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 553 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other MKS news, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 10,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.97, for a total transaction of $2,539,700.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 40,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,163,117.49. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,254 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,063,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 53,794 shares in the company, valued at $13,448,500. The trade was a 7.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 63,595 shares of company stock valued at $16,183,893 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MKSI shares. Citigroup upped their target price on MKS from $185.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of MKS from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of MKS from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $273.46.

MKS Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of MKS stock opened at $244.46 on Friday. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $54.84 and a 1-year high of $269.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.71. The stock has a market cap of $16.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.95. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $161.69.

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 for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.04). MKS had a return on equity of 20.85% and a net margin of 7.53%.The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. Analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. MKS’s payout ratio is currently 22.88%.

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.