Fourier Capital Management Ltd Buys New Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Fourier Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 29,858 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,281,000. MKS comprises 20.8% of Fourier Capital Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MKS in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of MKS during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new position in shares of MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in MKS by 47.5% in the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKSI opened at $279.11 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $341.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $294.25. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $97.50 and a 1-year high of $447.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $18.87 billion, a PE ratio of 44.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.98.

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

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 25th. MKS’s payout ratio is 15.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In related news, 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 $6,673,667.80. This represents a 49.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total transaction of $3,020,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 134,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,703,699.76. The trade was a 6.91% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 37,491 shares of company stock valued at $12,102,072. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKSI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Mizuho set a $360.00 target price on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on MKS from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.00.

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.