MKS Inc. $MKSI Shares Sold by Expect Equity LLC

Expect Equity LLC lowered its stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,015 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 7,475 shares during the period. MKS makes up approximately 3.7% of Expect Equity LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Expect Equity LLC’s holdings in MKS were worth $3,838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in MKS by 3.6% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 9,170 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of MKS by 63.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of MKS by 3,545.6% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 141,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $14,036,000 after buying an additional 137,392 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,676,000. Finally, AXA S.A. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 5,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $354.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Two investment 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MKS currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.92.

MKS Stock Up 1.4%

MKS stock opened at $371.26 on Thursday. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.49 and a 1-year high of $386.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.99. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $303.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $242.34.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.71 EPS. MKS’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total value of $6,668,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,673,667.80. The trade was a 49.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of MKS 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,400,700.50. This represents a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.