New York State Teachers Retirement System Decreases Stake in MKS Inc. $MKSI

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,109 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 2,177 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.09% of MKS worth $14,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in MKS by 1.1% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,274 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $982,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in MKS by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 390 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MKS by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 530 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of MKS by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,335 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in shares of MKS by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 898 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MKS

In other news, EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.94, for a total value of $1,393,338.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 49,439 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,817,513.66. This represents a 8.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,648,694.08. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108 over the last quarter. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Mizuho set a $400.00 target price on MKS in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MKS has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $374.07.

MKS Price Performance

MKSI stock opened at $365.56 on Monday. MKS Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.49 and a 52-week high of $447.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $24.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.93. The business has a fifty day moving average of $335.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $262.50.

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

MKS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given 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 yield of 0.3%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

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.