Bessemer Group Inc. Has $15.55 Million Stock Holdings in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 156,496 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,423 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of MKS worth $15,549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Optimum Investment Advisors raised its position in shares of MKS by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Steph & Co. acquired a new position in MKS during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in MKS by 1,168.3% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 799 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its position in MKS by 79.2% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In other MKS news, EVP David Philip Henry sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $650,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,024,230. This trade represents a 24.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.85, for a total value of $29,955.00. Following the sale, the director owned 19,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,923,410.55. The trade was a 1.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,900 shares of company stock valued at $744,227. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MKSI. Wall Street Zen raised MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on MKS from $130.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $151.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Monday, October 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on MKS from $92.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $118.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.70.

MKS Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ MKSI opened at $140.48 on Wednesday. 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 52-week low of $54.84 and a 52-week high of $147.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $122.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.31. The stock has a market cap of $9.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.97.

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

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 25th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 25th. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.34%.

MKS Company 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.