Fifth Third Bancorp Boosts Holdings in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 3,011.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 19,294 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,674 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in MKS were worth $4,434,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in MKS in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of MKS by 560.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 616.7% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of MKS in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 55.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 256 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at MKS

In other MKS news, CAO Michelle M. Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total transaction of $767,269.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $630.46. This represents a 99.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 20,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,673,667.80. This trade represents a 49.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MKSI. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Mizuho increased their price objective on MKS from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.00.

MKS Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of MKSI stock opened at $324.69 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $348.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $275.27. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.49 and a 1-year high of $447.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.93 billion, a PE ratio of 67.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.93. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.MKS’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.92%.

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.