California Public Employees Retirement System Purchases 8,904 Shares of MKS Inc. $MKSI

California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 7.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 123,288 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,904 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.18% of MKS worth $28,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MKS by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,254,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $200,438,000 after purchasing an additional 5,551 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings 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 valued at $97,635,000 after buying an additional 301,223 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MKS in the 4th quarter valued at $147,453,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $87,249,000 after buying an additional 340,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in MKS by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 870,654 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $139,131,000 after buying an additional 24,349 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MKSI shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup raised their price target on MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen cut MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $380.00.

MKS Stock Performance

MKSI opened at $345.44 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.93. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $349.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $278.51. MKS Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.49 and a 1 year high of $447.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

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

MKS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total transaction of $6,668,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,673,667.80. This represents a 49.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total transaction of $826,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,400,700.50. This trade represents a 13.27% 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 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

About MKS

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.