Madison Asset Management LLC Buys New Stake in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 316,694 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,866,000. MKS accounts for approximately 1.7% of Madison Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dorsey Wright & Associates purchased a new stake in shares of MKS in the 1st quarter valued at $1,329,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in MKS by 3,011.9% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 19,294 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,434,000 after acquiring an additional 18,674 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in MKS by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 123,288 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $28,333,000 after acquiring an additional 8,904 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in MKS during the 1st quarter valued at about $23,809,000. Finally, Anson Funds Management LP acquired a new position in MKS in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,792,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MKS from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of MKS in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $453.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total value of $3,020,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 134,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,703,699.76. This represents a 6.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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 firm’s 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 sale, the director directly owned 20,017 shares in the company, valued at $6,673,667.80. This trade represents 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 56,301 shares of company stock valued at $18,036,251 over the last 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MKS Stock Down 6.2%

Shares of MKS stock opened at $281.60 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. MKS Inc. has a 52-week low of $97.30 and a 52-week high of $447.62. The company has a market capitalization of $19.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a 50 day moving average of $344.76 and a 200 day moving average of $294.03.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.39. MKS had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 24.72%. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 28.3% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 12.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is 15.95%.

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.