MKS Inc. $MKSI Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in MKS by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, while institutional ownership remains extremely high at 99.79% of shares outstanding.
• MKS posted a strong quarterly earnings beat, reporting $2.30 EPS versus the $2.00 consensus and $1.08 billion in revenue, and it raised Q2 guidance to $2.60-$3.20 EPS.
• The stock has been buoyed by bullish analyst targets, including $400 from Cantor Fitzgerald and Mizuho, though some analysts remain cautious; the current consensus rating is Moderate Buy with an average price target of $324.92.

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Free Report) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 99,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 3,832 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.15% of MKS worth $15,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in MKS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in MKS by 616.7% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in MKS during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MKS Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of MKSI stock opened at $317.62 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. MKS Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.22 and a 1 year high of $339.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $278.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $226.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.45 billion, a PE ratio of 66.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.99.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.71 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS's payout ratio is 20.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, May 8th. Mizuho set a $400.00 price target on MKS in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "sell" rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded MKS from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Two 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MKS presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $324.92.

Insider Activity at MKS

In other news, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director owned 20,017 shares in the company, valued at $6,673,667.80. This represents a 49.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $3,154,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. This trade represents a 6.46% 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 have sold a total of 56,423 shares of company stock worth $17,758,856 in the last ninety days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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