MKS Inc. $MKSI Shares Sold by Bessemer Group Inc.

Bessemer Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 25.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 117,851 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 40,179 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in MKS were worth $27,083,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $95,880,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 159.7% in the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 839,773 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $134,196,000 after acquiring an additional 516,409 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 9,165.9% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $55,232,000 after acquiring an additional 441,432 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $87,249,000 after purchasing an additional 340,645 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKSI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Mizuho raised their price target on MKS from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of MKS from $400.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two analysts have 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $380.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In other MKS news, EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,355 shares of the business’s 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 owned 49,439 shares in the company, valued at $15,817,513.66. The trade was a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,696 shares in the company, valued at $45,648,694.08. This trade represents a 6.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

MKS Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $324.69 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $21.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.93, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $348.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $275.27. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.49 and a 12-month high of $447.62.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS’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. On average, research analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. MKS’s payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

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.