MKS Inc. $MKSI Shares Sold by Inspire Investing LLC

Inspire Investing LLC decreased its holdings in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 14.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,419 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,527 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in MKS were worth $2,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 3.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 267,421 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $21,434,000 after buying an additional 9,170 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in MKS by 63.4% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in MKS by 3,545.6% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 141,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $14,036,000 after acquiring an additional 137,392 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MKS during the 2nd quarter worth $1,676,000. Finally, AXA S.A. grew its stake in shares of MKS by 22.8% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 29,253 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,907,000 after purchasing an additional 5,430 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $315.48. The trade was a 99.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $3,154,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,648,694.08. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108 in the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKSI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of MKS in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $453.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Bank of America raised their price objective on MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $374.07.

MKS Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKSI opened at $445.50 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. MKS Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.49 and a fifty-two week high of $447.62. The business has a fifty day moving average of $329.19 and a 200-day moving average of $257.85. The stock has a market cap of $30.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.99.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.92%.

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.