Hsbc Holdings PLC Trims Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Hsbc Holdings PLC reduced its holdings in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 50.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,390 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 9,374 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in MKS were worth $1,511,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter worth $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter valued at about $95,880,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 159.7% in the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 839,773 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $134,196,000 after buying an additional 516,409 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 9,165.9% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $55,232,000 after buying an additional 441,432 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 63.4% in the second 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on MKSI. KeyCorp raised their target price on MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen cut MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $354.00 to $374.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Two investment analysts have 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $374.07.

MKS Trading Up 7.1%

MKSI opened at $445.50 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $329.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $257.85. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.49 and a 1-year high of $447.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.99.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $3,154,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares in the company, valued at $45,648,694.08. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Michelle M. Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total transaction of $767,269.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $630.46. The trade was a 99.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.