K2 Principal Fund L.P. Acquires Shares of 3,500 MKS Inc. $MKSI

K2 Principal Fund L.P. bought a new position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,557,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dorsey Wright & Associates purchased a new stake in shares of MKS during the first quarter worth about $1,329,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of MKS by 3,011.9% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 19,294 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,434,000 after purchasing an additional 18,674 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in MKS by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 123,288 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $28,333,000 after buying an additional 8,904 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in MKS in the 1st quarter valued at about $23,809,000. Finally, Anson Funds Management LP acquired a new stake in MKS in the 1st quarter worth about $3,792,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at MKS

In other MKS news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total value of $3,020,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,776 shares in the company, valued at $40,703,699.76. The trade was a 6.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Edward Williams sold 457 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.31, for a total transaction of $131,757.67. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 4,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,181,494.38. This trade represents a 10.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 56,301 shares of company stock valued at $18,036,251 in the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MKSI. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MKS from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on MKS from $365.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised MKS from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.00.

MKS Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $300.24 on Wednesday. MKS Inc. has a one year low of $97.30 and a one year high of $447.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $20.30 billion, a PE ratio of 47.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $345.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $293.76.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 24.72% and a net margin of 10.15%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 12.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.95%.

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.