First National Bank of Omaha Invests $4.74 Million in MKS Inc. $MKSI

First National Bank of Omaha bought a new position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 10,645 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,735,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MKS by 47.5% in the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of MKS by 1.1% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of MKS by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 390 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MKS by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 530 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of MKS by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,335 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $693,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MKS news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total value of $3,020,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,776 shares in the company, valued at $40,703,699.76. This represents a 6.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Michelle M. Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total transaction of $767,269.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $630.46. This trade represents a 99.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 56,301 shares of company stock worth $18,036,251. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MKS Stock Performance

MKSI stock opened at $300.24 on Wednesday. MKS Inc. has a twelve month low of $97.30 and a twelve month high of $447.62. The firm has a market cap of $20.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.89, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.98. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $345.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $293.76. 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 issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. MKS had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 24.72%. The business’s revenue was up 28.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. Analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 12.96 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. MKS’s payout ratio is 15.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKSI has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. 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. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of MKS from $425.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.00.

MKS Company 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.