Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Grows Stock Holdings in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 76,880.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 173,207 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 172,982 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in MKS were worth $77,043,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MKSI. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in MKS by 47.5% in the second quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,274 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of MKS by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 390 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in MKS by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 530 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in MKS by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,335 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on MKS from $425.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $453.00 target price for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $382.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Michelle M. Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total transaction of $767,269.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2 shares of the company’s stock, 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 is available at this hyperlink. 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 on 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 sale, 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. 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 12,891 shares of company stock valued at $3,919,127. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

MKS Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of MKSI opened at $246.44 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.30, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.98. MKS Inc. has a 52 week low of $97.50 and a 52 week high of $447.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $324.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $295.80. 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 (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.39. MKS had a return on equity of 24.72% and a net margin of 10.15%.The company had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. MKS’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.3% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 13.07 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

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

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.