Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $7.49 Million Stock Holdings in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky decreased its stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 14.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,572 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 5,332 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in MKS were worth $7,485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MKS in the fourth quarter worth $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new stake in MKS during the fourth quarter valued at $95,880,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its stake in MKS by 159.7% in the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 839,773 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $134,196,000 after purchasing an additional 516,409 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in MKS by 9,165.9% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $55,232,000 after purchasing an additional 441,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position in MKS by 63.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $87,249,000 after purchasing an additional 340,645 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of MKS from $400.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MKS has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.00.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of MKS stock opened at $352.03 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $345.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $271.02. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.49 and a 1-year high of $447.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.65, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.93.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (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 net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. MKS’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.71 EPS. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $2,779,378.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $315.48. The trade was a 99.99% decrease in their position. 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 valued at $17,446,108 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

About MKS

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.