MKS Inc. $MKSI Holdings Decreased by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 25.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 835,345 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 282,142 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in MKS were worth $191,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter valued at $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of MKS in the 4th quarter worth approximately $95,880,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its position in shares of MKS by 159.7% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 516,409 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MKS by 9,165.9% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $55,232,000 after buying an additional 441,432 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted 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 worth $87,249,000 after purchasing an additional 340,645 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MKS Trading Down 4.7%

Shares of NASDAQ MKSI opened at $329.18 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $351.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $281.40. 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 company has a market cap of $22.23 billion, a PE ratio of 68.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.93. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.49 and a 1-year high of $447.62.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous 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 expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.92%.

Insider Activity at MKS

In related news, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of MKS stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total value of $826,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,400,700.50. The trade was a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $2,779,378.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1 shares in the company, valued at $315.48. The trade was a 99.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MKSI. Citigroup increased their price objective on MKS from $355.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America upped their price target on MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of MKS from $400.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.00.

MKS Company 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.