Virtu Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 7,295 MKS Inc. $MKSI

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 7,295 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,166,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of MKS by 3.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 267,421 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $21,434,000 after purchasing an additional 9,170 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in MKS by 63.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in MKS by 3,545.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 141,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $14,036,000 after buying an additional 137,392 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,676,000. Finally, AXA S.A. raised its holdings in MKS by 22.8% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 29,253 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,907,000 after acquiring an additional 5,430 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.94, for a total transaction of $1,393,338.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 49,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,817,513.66. This represents a 8.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $2,779,378.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 1 shares in the company, valued at $315.48. The trade was a 99.99% 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 90 days, insiders have sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of MKS stock opened at $406.37 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $27.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.99. MKS Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.49 and a twelve month high of $408.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $310.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $245.22.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.71 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MKSI. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Mizuho set a $400.00 target price on MKS in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.92.

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.