ProShare Advisors LLC Purchases 2,178 Shares of MKS Inc. $MKSI

ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 24.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,229 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,178 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in MKS were worth $1,794,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of MKS by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 6,111 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $977,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its position in shares of MKS by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 47,026 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $7,515,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $377,000. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its position in shares of MKS by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 15,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,401,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Fourier Capital Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,956,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at MKS

In other MKS news, EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.94, for a total value of $1,393,338.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 49,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,817,513.66. The trade was a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Eric Robert Taranto sold 4,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.52, for a total value of $1,007,335.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,405,931.40. This represents a 22.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,313 shares of company stock valued at $6,253,264. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MKSI. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MKS from $354.00 to $374.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $318.77.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $320.62 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $266.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $218.69. MKS Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.22 and a fifty-two week high of $326.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 11.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is 20.92%.

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.