Leuthold Group LLC Buys Shares of 2,589 MKS Inc. $MKSI

Leuthold Group LLC purchased a new position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MKSI. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its position in MKS by 43.4% during the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 295,963 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $36,631,000 after purchasing an additional 89,502 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of MKS in the third quarter worth about $1,020,000. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of MKS by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 58,933 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,856,000 after buying an additional 6,846 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in shares of MKS by 553.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 7,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $912,000 after acquiring an additional 6,243 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MKS by 50.2% during the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,897 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $884,000 after acquiring an additional 2,974 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MKS news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.81, for a total transaction of $47,643.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,011,514.03. This trade represents a 1.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho set a $260.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of MKS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of MKS from $122.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.50.

MKS Stock Down 3.7%

MKSI opened at $249.42 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.27. MKS Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.84 and a 52 week high of $266.08. The company has a market capitalization of $16.75 billion, a PE ratio of 60.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

MKS Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. This is a boost from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.36%.

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.