MKS Inc. $MKSI Shares Sold by Cooke & Bieler LP

Key Points

• Cooke & Bieler LP cut its MKS stake by 26.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 355,174 shares and leaving it with 966,703 shares worth about $154.5 million.
• Analysts remain generally positive on MKS, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $318.77, while several firms recently raised their targets.
• MKS reported better-than-expected quarterly results, including EPS of $2.30 on revenue of $1.08 billion, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share.

Cooke & Bieler LP trimmed its holdings in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Free Report) by 26.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 966,703 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 355,174 shares during the period. MKS comprises approximately 1.6% of Cooke & Bieler LP's holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Cooke & Bieler LP owned about 1.44% of MKS worth $154,479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of MKS in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of MKS by 616.7% in the 4th 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 raised its position in shares of MKS by 74.5% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 260 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new position in MKS during the third quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "sell" rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MKS from $354.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MKS has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $318.77.

MKS Stock Performance

MKS stock opened at $320.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.65 billion, a PE ratio of 67.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $80.22 and a 12-month high of $326.83. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $268.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.98.

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. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. 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 currently 20.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MKS news, Director Peter Cannone III sold 1,350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.40, for a total transaction of $409,590.00. Following the sale, the director owned 7,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,364,699.60. The trade was a 14.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,355 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.94, for a total transaction of $1,393,338.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 49,439 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,817,513.66. The trade was a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 13,313 shares of company stock worth $3,713,564 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

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.

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