MKS Inc. $MKSI Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 765,595 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 53,151 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in MKS were worth $122,353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MKSI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in MKS by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,752,097 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $959,477,000 after purchasing an additional 295,480 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in MKS by 7.7% in the third quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,321,877 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $163,609,000 after purchasing an additional 94,692 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of 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. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 44.2% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 982,643 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $97,635,000 after buying an additional 301,223 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 63.4% during the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $87,249,000 after buying an additional 340,645 shares during the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MKS News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting MKS this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat expectations — MKS reported $2.30 EPS vs. a $2.00 consensus and revenue of $1.08B vs. $1.05B consensus, signaling better-than-expected execution and demand. MKS (MKSI) Q1 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Raised/strong Q2 guidance — management set Q2 2026 EPS guidance of $2.60–$3.20 (above the ~$2.37 consensus) and revenue guidance around $1.2B (above the ~$1.1B consensus), which supports upside to estimates and analyst revisions. MKS Inc. Reports First Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Company metrics and disclosure — the firm reported a net margin of ~7.5% and ROE ~20.9%; the official press release/earnings deck is available for detail review. These help investors model forward cash flow but are not new surprises. View Press Release
• Neutral Sentiment: Pre-earnings and analyst coverage — recent previews and comparative pieces (e.g., Zacks, American Banking News) provide context for estimates and peer comparisons but did not introduce new material facts. Gear Up for MKS (MKSI) Q1 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling headline — reports note insiders have been selling shares, which can create caution among some investors even as analysts turn more optimistic on earnings potential. Monitor magnitude and context of sales. Why MKS (MKSI) Insiders Are Selling

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKSI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on MKS from $135.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Zacks Research raised MKS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.77.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKSI stock opened at $293.77 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $248.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.44. The company has a market cap of $19.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.98. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.49 and a 12-month high of $298.00.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. MKS had a return on equity of 20.85% and a net margin of 7.53%.The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.71 earnings per share. The company’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. On average, equities analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were given 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 was Monday, February 23rd. This is an increase from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. MKS’s payout ratio is presently 22.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In related news, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.97, for a total transaction of $2,539,700.00. Following the sale, the director owned 40,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,163,117.49. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,254 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,063,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 53,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,448,500. This represents a 7.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 68,503 shares of company stock worth $17,288,099. 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.