Maverick Capital Ltd. Makes New Investment in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 7,286 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,674,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dorsey Wright & Associates purchased a new stake in shares of MKS during the first quarter worth about $1,329,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of MKS by 3,011.9% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 19,294 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,434,000 after purchasing an additional 18,674 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of MKS by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 123,288 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $28,333,000 after purchasing an additional 8,904 shares during the last quarter. Bowie Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MKS in the 1st quarter worth approximately $14,844,000. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new stake in MKS in the 1st quarter worth approximately $11,950,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

MKS Stock Down 4.1%

Shares of MKSI stock opened at $315.70 on Tuesday. MKS Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.49 and a twelve month high of $447.62. The stock has a market cap of $21.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $351.71 and a 200 day moving average of $283.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.71 EPS. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph B. Donahue sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.95, for a total transaction of $688,695.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,290,322.35. This trade represents a 17.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total transaction of $826,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,400,700.50. The trade was a 13.27% 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. Insiders sold a total of 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKSI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price target 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup upped their target price on MKS from $355.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. One research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.