Old West Investment Management LLC Has $1.96 Million Stock Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Old West Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 133.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,849 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,055 shares during the quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MKS were worth $1,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in MKS by 35.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 212,041 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,244,000 after purchasing an additional 55,545 shares during the period. Optimize Financial Inc purchased a new position in shares of MKS during the third quarter valued at $1,639,000. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in MKS during the third quarter valued at $579,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in MKS by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 101,778 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $12,597,000 after acquiring an additional 2,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in MKS by 454.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 28,004 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,466,000 after acquiring an additional 22,951 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MKS

In related news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.81, for a total value of $47,643.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,011,514.03. This trade represents a 1.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MKSI shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $215.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of MKS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Mizuho set a $260.00 price objective on MKS in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MKS has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.50.

MKS Stock Up 7.1%

MKS stock opened at $243.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.95. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $54.84 and a 1-year high of $246.35. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $186.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $145.03. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.13. MKS had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 7.25%.The company had revenue of $988.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $963.87 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.