Hsbc Holdings PLC Reduces Stock Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Hsbc Holdings PLC cut its holdings in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 74.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,398 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 6,992 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in MKS were worth $551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MKSI. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MKS in the 4th quarter valued at about $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter worth about $95,880,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in MKS by 9,165.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 441,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in MKS by 63.4% in the second 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In other MKS news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the company’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 transaction of $3,154,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,648,694.08. This represents a 6.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Michelle M. Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of MKS stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total value of $767,269.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 2 shares in the company, valued at $630.46. This trade represents a 99.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKSI opened at $297.45 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $349.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $285.18. The firm has a market cap of $20.09 billion, a PE ratio of 62.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.93. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.49 and a 12-month high of $447.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. MKS’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.71 EPS. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid 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 dividend payout ratio is 20.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKSI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $355.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $360.00 target price on shares of MKS in a report on Friday. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.57.

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.