Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 15,662 Shares of MKS Inc. $MKSI

Federated Hermes Inc. lessened its holdings in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 99,928 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 15,662 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.15% of MKS worth $12,368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its holdings in MKS by 7.7% during the third quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,321,877 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $163,609,000 after buying an additional 94,692 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of MKS by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,258,108 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $125,025,000 after acquiring an additional 35,065 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MKS by 79.3% during the 2nd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 991,298 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $98,495,000 after purchasing an additional 438,338 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in 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 valued at $97,635,000 after purchasing an additional 301,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC boosted its position in MKS by 146.4% during the second quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 912,380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $90,654,000 after purchasing an additional 542,094 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on MKSI shares. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $215.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of MKS from $210.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of MKS from $180.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $122.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on MKS from $187.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MKS currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MKS news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of MKS stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.81, for a total transaction of $47,643.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,011,514.03. The trade was a 1.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of MKSI opened at $235.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 1.81. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $178.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $140.88. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $54.84 and a 1-year high of $246.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.81 billion, a PE ratio of 57.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.92.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $988.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $963.87 million. MKS had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 7.25%.The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. MKS has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.930-2.610 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 24th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.36%.

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.