Renaissance Technologies LLC Buys New Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 103,603 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,809,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MKSI. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of MKS by 560.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 616.7% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the third quarter worth about $37,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 55.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 256 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in MKS in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MKS Stock Down 9.7%

MKSI stock opened at $257.61 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $17.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.93. MKS Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.49 and a 52 week high of $447.62. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $350.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $284.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.71 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on MKSI. Bank of America lifted their target price on MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on MKS from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MKS currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total value of $826,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 16,341 shares in the company, valued at $5,400,700.50. This trade represents a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $2,779,378.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $315.48. This trade represents a 99.99% 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. Insiders sold a total of 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.