Dean Capital Management Grows Stake in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Dean Capital Management raised its position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 65.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,713 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 4,653 shares during the period. Dean Capital Management’s holdings in MKS were worth $1,450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Activity at MKS

In other news, EVP John Edward Williams sold 2,043 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $933,332.40. This trade represents a 35.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Eric Robert Taranto sold 4,568 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.52, for a total transaction of $1,007,335.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,405,931.40. The trade was a 22.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 68,503 shares of company stock worth $17,288,099 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of MKSI opened at $213.45 on Monday. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $54.84 and a 1-year high of $269.91. The stock has a market cap of $14.35 billion, a PE ratio of 48.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.93. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $226.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.71.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.15 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MKSI shares. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of MKS from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of MKS from $185.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Mizuho set a $320.00 price target on MKS in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MKS currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.46.

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.