WCM Investment Management LLC Decreases Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

WCM Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 34.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,120 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 6,436 shares during the quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MKS were worth $2,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of MKS by 44.2% during the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 301,223 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter worth $147,453,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in MKS by 63.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $87,249,000 after acquiring an additional 340,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in MKS by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 870,654 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $139,131,000 after acquiring an additional 24,349 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MKSI shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of MKS from $400.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MKS presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $380.00.

Insider Transactions at MKS

In other MKS news, 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 value of $826,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,400,700.50. The trade was a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total value of $6,668,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,673,667.80. This trade represents a 49.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

MKS Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of MKS stock opened at $324.28 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $348.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $277.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.49 and a 12-month high of $447.62. The company has a market cap of $21.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.84, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.93.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.71 EPS. The business’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 expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. 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.