Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 151,365 Shares of MKS Inc. $MKSI

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 19.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 614,230 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 151,365 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in MKS were worth $141,162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of MKS in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $764,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,618,000. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP bought a new position in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,965,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al boosted its stake in MKS by 57.3% in the 4th quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 15,100 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,413,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in MKS in the fourth quarter valued at $3,764,000. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

MKS Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ MKSI opened at $353.80 on Thursday. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.49 and a 12-month high of $447.62. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $347.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $273.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $23.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.93.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue 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, research analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued 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 yield of 0.3%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

Insider Transactions at MKS

In other MKS news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $2,779,378.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $315.48. The trade was a 99.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on MKSI. Mizuho increased their price objective on MKS from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $380.00.

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.