Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 17,857 Shares of MKS Inc. $MKSI

Great Lakes Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 50.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 17,805 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 17,857 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in MKS were worth $2,204,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new position in MKS during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in MKS in the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in shares of MKS in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Steph & Co. boosted its holdings in MKS by 30.4% in the third quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 553 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKSI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of MKS from $92.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. KeyCorp increased their target price 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MKS presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $231.50.

MKS Stock Performance

MKSI stock opened at $235.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.86. MKS Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.84 and a 52 week high of $246.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.88. The stock has a market cap of $15.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.92.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.13. MKS had a net margin of 7.25% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The firm had revenue of $988.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $963.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.930-2.610 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Investors of record on Monday, November 24th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is 21.36%.

Insider Activity

In other MKS 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 value of $47,643.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,011,514.03. The trade was a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MKS 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.