Nordea Investment Management AB Cuts Stock Holdings in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Nordea Investment Management AB lowered its position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 62.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 599,842 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 996,602 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in MKS were worth $96,605,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. bought a new position in MKS in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MKS by 74.5% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 260 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of MKS in the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of MKS in the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of MKS in the third quarter worth $49,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MKS news, EVP Eric Robert Taranto sold 4,568 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.52, for a total transaction of $1,007,335.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,405,931.40. This represents a 22.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.97, for a total transaction of $2,539,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 40,017 shares in the company, valued at $10,163,117.49. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 68,503 shares of company stock valued at $17,288,099 in the last 90 days. 0.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKSI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on MKS from $135.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of MKS from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 3rd. Finally, Mizuho set a $320.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $273.08.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKSI opened at $227.13 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.97, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.71. MKS Inc. has a one year low of $54.84 and a one year high of $269.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $231.43 and a 200 day moving average of $175.12.

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

MKS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. This is a boost from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.