Equitable Trust Co. Raises Stock Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Equitable Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 59.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,677 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,972 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in MKS were worth $1,061,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. grew its stake in MKS by 843.4% during the second quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 690,287 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $68,587,000 after acquiring an additional 617,113 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in MKS by 139.1% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 3,580 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in MKS by 209.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 17,936 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,782,000 after acquiring an additional 12,132 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in MKS by 48.5% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,908 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $388,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new position in MKS in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $425,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MKS

In related news, Director Jacqueline F. Moloney sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.14, for a total transaction of $36,642.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 11,562 shares in the company, valued at $1,412,182.68. This represents a 2.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,923,410.55. This represents a 1.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,900 shares of company stock worth $744,227 in the last three months. 0.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MKS Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of MKSI opened at $132.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.68, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 2.99. MKS Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.84 and a fifty-two week high of $142.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $114.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.17.

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

MKS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 25th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 25th. MKS’s payout ratio is presently 22.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of MKS from $130.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of MKS from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MKS presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $127.80.

MKS 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.