Strategic Global Advisors LLC Invests $5.80 Million in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Strategic Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 13,030 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,796,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MKS by 0.4% in 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. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 44.2% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 982,643 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $97,635,000 after acquiring an additional 301,223 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $147,453,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 340,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of MKS by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 870,654 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $139,131,000 after acquiring an additional 24,349 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MKS Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of MKS stock opened at $271.75 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $18.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.98. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $335.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $295.63. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $97.50 and a 1-year high of $447.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

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

MKS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 25th. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on MKSI. Bank of America boosted their price target on MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on MKS from $365.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $425.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MKS currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $382.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Michelle M. Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total transaction of $767,269.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $630.46. The trade was a 99.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total transaction of $3,020,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,703,699.76. This represents a 6.91% 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 sold 12,891 shares of company stock valued at $3,919,127 in the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.