MKS Inc. $MKSI Stake Lowered by Kennedy Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Kennedy Capital Management cut its stake in MKS by 7.6% to 171,557 shares (about $21.23M), and institutional investors now own roughly 99.79% of the company.
• Analysts hold a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $273.46, while several firms have raised targets to the $300–$320 range and most analysts rate the stock as Buy.
• MKS reported quarterly EPS of $2.47 (slightly below the $2.51 estimate) with revenue of $1.03B (above estimates), set Q1 guidance of $1.72–$2.28 EPS, raised its quarterly dividend to $0.25, and insiders sold about 68,163 shares (~$17.2M) in the last three months.

Kennedy Capital Management LLC cut its stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Free Report) by 7.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 171,557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 14,031 shares during the quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.26% of MKS worth $21,234,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new position in MKS in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of MKS in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in MKS in the third quarter worth approximately $65,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MKS from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Mizuho set a $320.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MKS currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $273.46.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKSI traded up $2.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $215.93. 149,688 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,586,519. MKS Inc. has a one year low of $54.84 and a one year high of $269.91. The company's 50 day moving average is $225.73 and its 200 day moving average is $169.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.94.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.04). MKS had a return on equity of 20.85% and a net margin of 7.53%.The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.15 EPS. The business's revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. This is a positive change from MKS's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. MKS's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.88%.

Insider Transactions at MKS

In other MKS news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 30,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.77, for a total value of $7,703,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 154,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $39,721,291.92. The trade was a 16.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 40,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,163,117.49. This trade represents a 19.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 68,163 shares of company stock worth $17,215,417. Insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

MKS Company 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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