Virtu Financial LLC Acquires New Holdings in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,295 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,166,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dean Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of MKS by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 12,090 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,932,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 2,170.2% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 133,036 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $21,259,000 after acquiring an additional 127,176 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 48.0% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 10,968 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,753,000 after acquiring an additional 3,555 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MKS in the 4th quarter valued at $701,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new stake in MKS in the 4th quarter valued at $674,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MKS Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKSI opened at $406.37 on Friday. MKS Inc. has a 12 month low of $88.49 and a 12 month high of $408.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $310.09 and a 200-day moving average of $245.22. The company has a market cap of $27.45 billion, a PE ratio of 85.01, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.99.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. MKS’s payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $3,154,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. This trade represents a 6.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total value of $6,668,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,673,667.80. The trade was a 49.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108 in the last 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKSI has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Mizuho set a $400.00 target price on MKS in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.92.

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.