Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Holdings in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 818,746 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 33,890 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 1.22% of MKS worth $101,337,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MKS during the second quarter valued at $85,391,000. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. raised its position in MKS by 843.4% in the 2nd quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 690,287 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $68,587,000 after purchasing an additional 617,113 shares during the period. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of MKS by 146.4% during the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 912,380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $90,654,000 after acquiring an additional 542,094 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $98,495,000 after acquiring an additional 438,338 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 340,645 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In other news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the firm’s 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 owned 18,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,011,514.03. This trade represents a 1.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MKSI shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MKS from $187.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of MKS from $122.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on MKS from $92.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of MKS from $215.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.50.

MKS Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ MKSI opened at $233.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.94. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.07. MKS Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.84 and a 52-week high of $246.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

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

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.