Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Grows Stock Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Key Points

• Westfield Capital Management boosted its MKS stake by 159.7% in the fourth quarter, ending with 839,773 shares valued at about $134.2 million. Other large institutional investors also increased holdings, and nearly all of MKS shares are owned by institutions.
• Analysts remain bullish on MKS overall, with several firms raising price targets to the $360–$400 range. The consensus rating is “Moderate Buy,” with a consensus target price of $324.92.
• MKS posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results, reporting EPS of $2.30 and revenue of $1.08 billion, both ahead of estimates. The company also raised Q2 2026 guidance and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share.

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Free Report) by 159.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 839,773 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 516,409 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned about 1.25% of MKS worth $134,196,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in MKS by 4.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,752,097 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $959,477,000 after buying an additional 295,480 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in MKS by 30.8% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,265,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $156,602,000 after buying an additional 297,850 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in MKS by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,254,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $200,438,000 after buying an additional 5,551 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in MKS by 44.2% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 982,643 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $97,635,000 after buying an additional 301,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MKS in the fourth quarter valued at about $147,453,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. KeyCorp increased their price target on MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Mizuho set a $400.00 price objective on MKS in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $324.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total transaction of $826,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,341 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,400,700.50. This trade represents a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 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 value of $1,393,338.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 49,439 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,817,513.66. This trade represents a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 51,855 shares of company stock valued at $16,751,520. Insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

MKS Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of MKSI stock opened at $330.23 on Friday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $283.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.30 billion, a PE ratio of 69.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.99. MKS Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $86.05 and a fifty-two week high of $341.81.

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 business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The company's revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Equities analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. MKS's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

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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