Inspire Investing LLC Lowers Stock Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Inspire Investing LLC trimmed its position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 14.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,419 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,527 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in MKS were worth $2,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in MKS during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 560.0% in 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 period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of MKS by 616.7% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of MKS in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 55.2% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 256 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MKS

In other news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $3,154,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. This trade represents a 6.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $2,779,378.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $315.48. This represents a 99.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108 over the last quarter. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKSI has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $374.07.

MKS Trading Up 7.1%

NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $445.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $30.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.99. MKS Inc. has a one year low of $88.49 and a one year high of $447.62. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $329.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $257.85.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.71 EPS. The business’s 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, sell-side analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.92%.

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.