Kennedy Capital Management LLC Sells 27,418 Shares of MKS Inc. $MKSI

Kennedy Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 16.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 144,139 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 27,418 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.21% of MKS worth $23,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MKSI. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in MKS during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in MKS by 560.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in MKS by 616.7% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in MKS by 74.5% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 260 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in MKS during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In other MKS news, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total transaction of $826,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,400,700.50. This represents a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total transaction of $767,269.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $630.46. This 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. Insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MKSI shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of MKS from $354.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.92.

MKS Stock Up 3.0%

MKSI opened at $355.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $295.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $237.08. MKS Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.49 and a twelve month high of $359.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.41, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.99.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.71 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

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