Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Raises Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 553.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 6,243 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in MKS were worth $912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MKSI. Norges Bank bought a new position in MKS during the 2nd quarter valued at $85,391,000. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 843.4% in the second quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 690,287 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $68,587,000 after purchasing an additional 617,113 shares during the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of MKS by 146.4% during the second quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 912,380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $90,654,000 after purchasing an additional 542,094 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MKS by 79.3% during the second quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 991,298 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $98,495,000 after purchasing an additional 438,338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its position in 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 worth $87,249,000 after purchasing an additional 340,645 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,011,514.03. This trade represents a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MKS Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of MKS stock opened at $235.41 on Friday. MKS Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.84 and a 52-week high of $246.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $178.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.86.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.13. MKS had a net margin of 7.25% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The firm had revenue of $988.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $963.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.930-2.610 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 24th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. MKS’s payout ratio is presently 21.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on MKSI shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $215.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on MKS from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on MKS from $210.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Benchmark raised their target price on MKS from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of MKS from $92.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.50.

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.