OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Increases Holdings in MKS Inc. $MKSI

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 168.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 62,830 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 39,408 shares during the quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s holdings in MKS were worth $10,040,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MKSI. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MKS by 9,165.9% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $55,232,000 after purchasing an additional 441,432 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MKS by 63.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $87,249,000 after purchasing an additional 340,645 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of MKS by 316.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 426,509 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $52,789,000 after purchasing an additional 324,195 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in shares of MKS in the 3rd quarter worth $40,023,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of MKS by 44.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 982,643 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $97,635,000 after purchasing an additional 301,223 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MKS news, Director Jacqueline F. Moloney sold 340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.77, for a total value of $72,681.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 10,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,221,711.61. This represents a 3.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 10,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 40,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,163,117.49. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 68,503 shares of company stock worth $17,288,099 in the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MKSI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho set a $320.00 price objective on MKS in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on MKS from $295.00 to $290.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on MKS from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MKS from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MKS currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.08.

MKS Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of MKSI stock opened at $273.77 on Wednesday. MKS Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.00 and a 52-week high of $289.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.43 billion, a PE ratio of 62.65, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $243.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $195.15.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.04). MKS had a return on equity of 20.85% and a net margin of 7.53%.The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.15 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. On average, analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 9.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. This is a boost from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.88%.

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.