Federated Hermes Inc. Lowers Holdings in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Federated Hermes Inc. lowered its stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 13.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 99,928 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 15,662 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in MKS were worth $12,368,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. DAVENPORT & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MKS during the 2nd quarter worth about $214,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its holdings in MKS by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 58,933 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,856,000 after purchasing an additional 6,846 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. boosted its position in MKS by 59.2% during the second quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 10,677 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 3,972 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in MKS by 50.2% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,897 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $884,000 after purchasing an additional 2,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. acquired a new stake in MKS in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,681,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

MKS Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MKSI opened at $235.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.81 billion, a PE ratio of 57.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.84 and a 12-month high of $246.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $178.46 and a 200 day moving average of $140.88.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $988.00 million for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. MKS has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.930-2.610 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at MKS

In other news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.81, for a total transaction of $47,643.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,963 shares of the company’s stock, 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 can be accessed through this link. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKSI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded MKS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of MKS from $180.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of MKS from $92.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $231.50.

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.