MKS Inc. $MKSI Shares Sold by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Key Points

• Victory Capital Management cut its MKS stake by 28.5% in the fourth quarter, selling more than 1 million shares. Even after the reduction, it still held 2.56 million shares worth about $409.5 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains positive: several analysts raised their price targets on MKS, and the consensus rating is currently “Moderate Buy” with an average target of $324.92.
• Insiders have also been selling shares, including two executive vice presidents in May. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,949 shares valued at about $17.4 million.

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Free Report) by 28.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,562,399 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 1,019,817 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 3.81% of MKS worth $409,471,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MKSI. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MKS in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $147,453,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted 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 acquiring an additional 516,409 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 441,432 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in MKS by 63.4% in the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $87,249,000 after acquiring an additional 340,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in MKS by 316.9% in the third quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 426,509 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $52,789,000 after acquiring an additional 324,195 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $324.92.

Insider Activity at MKS

In related news, EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,355 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were 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 directly owned 49,439 shares in the company, valued at $15,817,513.66. The trade was a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total transaction of $826,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 16,341 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,400,700.50. This represents a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of MKSI opened at $355.69 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.02 billion, a PE ratio of 74.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.99. 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 1-year low of $88.49 and a 1-year high of $359.35. The company's fifty day moving average price is $295.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $237.08.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The firm 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%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. MKS's 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.

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