Royal Bank of Canada Sells 1,161,839 Shares of MKS Inc. $MKSI

Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 88.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 153,003 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,161,839 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.23% of MKS worth $35,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 560.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in MKS by 616.7% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in MKS in the third quarter worth about $37,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in MKS by 55.2% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 256 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in MKS during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MKSI. Bank of America increased their target price on MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on MKS from $355.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of MKS in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $453.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.57.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of MKS stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total value 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. The trade was a 13.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,673,667.80. This represents a 49.98% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MKS Price Performance

MKSI stock opened at $309.98 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $349.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $286.70. MKS Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.49 and a 52-week high of $447.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.85, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.98.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly 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. Equities research analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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.