Ieq Capital LLC Makes New Investment in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 21,702 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,653,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MKSI. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 5,551 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 301,223 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MKS during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $147,453,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 340,645 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 24,349 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at MKS

In other news, EVP John Edward Williams sold 457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.31, for a total transaction of $131,757.67. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,181,494.38. The trade was a 10.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total transaction of $6,668,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,673,667.80. This represents a 49.98% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 37,491 shares of company stock worth $12,102,072. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKSI opened at $279.11 on Friday. MKS Inc. has a 12 month low of $97.50 and a 12 month high of $447.62. The company has a market cap of $18.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.98. The business’s 50 day moving average is $341.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 earnings per share 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%.MKS’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 12.96 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is 15.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKSI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective 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. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of MKS in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $453.00 target price for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MKS has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.00.

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.