OP Asset Management Ltd Takes $650,000 Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $650,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MKSI. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MKS during the 4th quarter worth $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new position in MKS in the fourth quarter valued at $95,880,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 159.7% in the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 839,773 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $134,196,000 after buying an additional 516,409 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 9,165.9% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $55,232,000 after buying an additional 441,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 63.4% during the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $87,249,000 after buying an additional 340,645 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $2,779,378.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 1 shares in the company, valued at $315.48. This trade represents a 99.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $3,154,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. This represents a 6.46% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MKS from $354.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Citigroup increased their price objective on MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on MKS from $400.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $374.07.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKSI stock opened at $445.50 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $30.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.99. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $329.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $257.85. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.49 and a 12-month high of $447.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The firm 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 business earned $1.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is 20.92%.

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.