MKS Inc. $MKSI Shares Sold by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. reduced its stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 85.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,787 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 380,740 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.10% of MKS worth $8,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MKSI. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MKS by 43.4% during the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 295,963 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $36,631,000 after buying an additional 89,502 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in MKS during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,020,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in MKS by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 58,933 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,856,000 after acquiring an additional 6,846 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of MKS by 2.3% in the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 304,831 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $37,729,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its holdings in shares of MKS by 553.5% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 7,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $912,000 after purchasing an additional 6,243 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MKS news, EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,063,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 53,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,448,500. This trade represents a 7.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Edward Williams sold 2,043 shares of MKS stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.41, for a total value of $523,845.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $933,332.40. This trade represents a 35.95% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 63,595 shares of company stock valued at $16,183,893 over the last quarter. 0.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MKSI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of MKS from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of MKS from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MKS from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on MKS from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $273.46.

MKS Price Performance

NASDAQ MKSI opened at $244.46 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. MKS Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.84 and a 1 year high of $269.91. The company has a market cap of $16.44 billion, a PE ratio of 55.94, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $214.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $162.09.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 20.85% and a net margin of 7.53%.The business’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.15 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. On average, analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. This is an increase from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.88%.

MKS Company Profile

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.