Norges Bank purchased a new position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI – Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 922,737 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $147,453,000.
A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter worth $170,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of MKS by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 618 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MKS by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 6,717 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,073,000 after buying an additional 2,240 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP lifted its position in shares of MKS by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 2,323 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MKS by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,254,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $200,438,000 after buying an additional 5,551 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
MKSI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.92.
MKS Price Performance
MKS stock opened at $335.15 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $22.64 billion, a PE ratio of 70.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.99. MKS Inc. has a 12 month low of $86.05 and a 12 month high of $341.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $282.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $228.68.
MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI – Get Free Report) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.71 earnings per share. 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 year.
MKS Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.92%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $2,779,378.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $315.48. This represents a 99.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $3,154,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. The trade was a 6.46% 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,423 shares of company stock valued at $17,758,856. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.
About MKS
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.
Featured Stories
- Five stocks we like better than MKS
- Coke’s $10B India IPO Plan Pops the Top on Hidden Value
- FedEx Unboxes Billions in Post-Spinoff Value
- Marvell’s AI Moment Raises a Bigger Question for Amazon and ServiceNow
- Palo Alto Networks Accelerates Growth 31% on AI Demand
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MKSI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for MKS Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for MKS and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
