Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Takes Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,036 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $325,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its position in MKS by 43.4% in the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 295,963 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $36,631,000 after purchasing an additional 89,502 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in MKS in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,020,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC acquired a new stake in MKS in the 4th quarter valued at $3,618,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its position in MKS by 553.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 7,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $912,000 after purchasing an additional 6,243 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC grew its position in MKS by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 304,831 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $37,729,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKSI has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $215.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $354.00 to $374.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $318.77.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Eric Robert Taranto sold 4,568 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.52, for a total transaction of $1,007,335.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,445 shares in the company, valued at $3,405,931.40. The trade was a 22.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 10,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.97, for a total value of $2,539,700.00. Following the sale, the director owned 40,017 shares in the company, valued at $10,163,117.49. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 75,258 shares of company stock worth $19,440,224. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

MKS Price Performance

MKSI opened at $295.70 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.98. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $258.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $213.97. MKS Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.22 and a 1 year high of $326.83.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.71 EPS. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 11.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

MKS 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.