MKS Inc. $MKSI Stake Lowered by Neuberger Berman Group LLC

Neuberger Berman Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 13.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,634,796 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 253,825 shares during the quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC owned about 2.43% of MKS worth $202,339,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MKSI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in MKS by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,752,097 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $959,477,000 after buying an additional 295,480 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its position in shares of MKS by 7.7% during the third quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,321,877 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $163,609,000 after acquiring an additional 94,692 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of MKS by 30.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,265,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $156,602,000 after acquiring an additional 297,850 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MKS by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,258,108 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $125,025,000 after acquiring an additional 35,065 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC lifted its position in MKS by 79.3% in the 2nd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 991,298 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $98,495,000 after purchasing an additional 438,338 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on MKSI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of MKS from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on MKS from $135.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Mizuho set a $320.00 target price on MKS in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on MKS from $215.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MKS currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.46.

MKS Stock Down 8.9%

MKSI opened at $210.00 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $220.98 and its 200-day moving average is $165.72. MKS Inc. has a one year low of $54.84 and a one year high of $269.91. The company has a market capitalization of $14.12 billion, a PE ratio of 48.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.71.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its earnings results 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). MKS had a return on equity of 20.85% and a net margin of 7.53%.The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.15 earnings per share. MKS’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors 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. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.88%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.44, for a total transaction of $71,832.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,468,668.72. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Edward Williams sold 2,043 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.41, for a total value of $523,845.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $933,332.40. This trade represents a 35.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 63,595 shares of company stock valued at $16,208,082 in the last ninety days. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MKS Profile

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.