Cetera Trust Company N.A Makes New Investment in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,915 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,297,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MKS by 47.5% during the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in MKS by 1.1% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,274 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in MKS by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 390 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in MKS by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 530 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MKS by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,335 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MKSI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on MKS from $365.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. 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 report on Tuesday, June 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.00.

MKS Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of MKSI opened at $269.06 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.14. MKS Inc. has a 52 week low of $97.50 and a 52 week high of $447.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.91, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $339.83 and a 200-day moving average of $294.95.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.39. MKS had a return on equity of 24.72% and a net margin of 10.15%.The business had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. MKS’s quarterly revenue was up 28.3% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 12.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 25th. MKS’s payout ratio is 15.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP John Edward Williams sold 457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.31, for a total value of $131,757.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at $1,181,494.38. This trade represents a 10.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Michelle M. Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total transaction of $767,269.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $630.46. This trade represents a 99.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 34,991 shares of company stock valued at $11,275,822 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.