SG Americas Securities LLC Increases Stock Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 477.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 110,343 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 91,219 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in MKS were worth $25,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MKSI. Evolve Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the first quarter worth about $214,000. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of MKS in the 1st quarter valued at about $385,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in MKS by 34.2% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in MKS by 102.3% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 11,855 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,898,000 after buying an additional 5,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new position in MKS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $639,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

MKS Stock Down 1.9%

MKSI opened at $381.62 on Thursday. MKS Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.49 and a 52 week high of $421.58. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $317.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $250.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $25.77 billion, a PE ratio of 79.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.99.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for 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%.The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.71 EPS. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

Insider Activity at MKS

In other news, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director directly owned 20,017 shares in the company, valued at $6,673,667.80. The trade was a 49.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through 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 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,648,694.08. This represents a 6.46% 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. Insiders have sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MKSI shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $343.77.

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.