Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Cuts Stake in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Key Points

• Gamco Investors cut its stake in MKS by 50.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 4,000 shares and ending with 3,885 shares worth about $621,000.
• Insider selling picked up as directors Jacqueline F. Moloney and Gerald G. Colella sold shares, while insiders sold 23,313 shares worth about $6.25 million in the last quarter.
• MKS reported better-than-expected Q1 results, with EPS of $2.30 on revenue of $1.08 billion, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share.

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lessened its stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Free Report) by 50.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 4,000 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL's holdings in MKS were worth $621,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MKS by 9,165.9% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $55,232,000 after acquiring an additional 441,432 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MKS by 63.4% during the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $87,249,000 after acquiring an additional 340,645 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of MKS by 316.9% during the third quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 426,509 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $52,789,000 after acquiring an additional 324,195 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in shares of MKS during the third quarter worth about $40,023,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of MKS by 44.2% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 982,643 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $97,635,000 after acquiring an additional 301,223 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jacqueline F. Moloney sold 1,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.99, for a total value of $446,586.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,775 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,118,127.25. This represents a 12.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.97, for a total value of $2,539,700.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 40,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,163,117.49. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,313 shares of company stock worth $6,253,264. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of MKS in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded MKS from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $318.77.

MKS Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of MKSI opened at $320.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.11. MKS Inc. has a one year low of $80.22 and a one year high of $326.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.08, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $266.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $218.17.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid 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 is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS's dividend payout ratio is 20.92%.

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.

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