Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Decreases Stake in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 60.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,911 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 55,945 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in MKS were worth $8,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MKS during the 4th quarter valued at about $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of MKS in the fourth quarter worth about $95,880,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 159.7% during the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 839,773 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $134,196,000 after purchasing an additional 516,409 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 9,165.9% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $55,232,000 after purchasing an additional 441,432 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its position in 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 valued at $87,249,000 after buying an additional 340,645 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKSI has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Mizuho set a $400.00 price target on MKS in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $343.77.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Michelle M. Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total transaction of $767,269.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2 shares in the company, valued at $630.46. This trade represents a 99.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total value of $6,668,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,673,667.80. This represents a 49.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MKS Stock Performance

MKSI opened at $388.61 on Monday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $322.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.13. MKS Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.49 and a 1 year high of $421.58. The stock has a market cap of $26.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.99.

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

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. 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.