Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. Has $68.59 Million Stock Holdings in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. grew its stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 843.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 690,287 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 617,113 shares during the period. MKS comprises approximately 4.0% of Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. owned about 1.02% of MKS worth $68,587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Optimum Investment Advisors grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 66.7% in the first quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Steph & Co. bought a new position in shares of MKS in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 1,168.3% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 799 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 79.2% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, eCIO Inc. bought a new position in shares of MKS in the first quarter valued at approximately $77,000. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MKS Price Performance

MKS stock opened at $121.26 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.78, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.97. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.56. MKS Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.84 and a 12 month high of $142.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $973.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $931.05 million. MKS had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 7.11%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 25th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 25th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MKS news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.85, for a total transaction of $29,955.00. Following the sale, the director owned 19,263 shares in the company, valued at $1,923,410.55. This represents a 1.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jacqueline F. Moloney sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.14, for a total value of $36,642.00. Following the sale, the director owned 11,562 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,412,182.68. This represents a 2.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,900 shares of company stock worth $744,227 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MKSI shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MKS from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, August 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on MKS from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on MKS from $92.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.30.

MKS Company Profile

MKS Instruments, Inc provides foundational technology solutions to semiconductor manufacturing, electronics and packaging, and specialty industrial applications in the United States, Germany, China, South Korea, and internationally. It operates through Vacuum Solutions Division (VSD), Photonics Solutions Division (PSD), and Material Solutions Division (MSD) segments.