15,862 MKS Inc. $MKSI Shares Purchased by Cooke & Bieler LP

Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its holdings in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 181,089 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,862 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings in MKS were worth $48,054,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Spyglass Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MKS in the second quarter valued at approximately $52,720,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of MKS in the second quarter valued at approximately $231,673,000. Dorsey Wright & Associates acquired a new stake in shares of MKS in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,329,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in MKS by 42.2% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 44,846 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $19,948,000 after buying an additional 13,299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in MKS by 3,011.9% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 19,294 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,434,000 after buying an additional 18,674 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In other news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total transaction of $3,020,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,703,699.76. This represents a 6.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.96, for a total value of $75,288.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,729,341.20. The trade was a 1.57% 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 10,757 shares of company stock worth $3,227,146 over the last quarter. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MKS Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ MKSI opened at $216.10 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $260.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $299.88. MKS Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.72 and a 1 year high of $447.62.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 24.72% and a net margin of 10.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. MKS’s payout ratio is currently 15.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MKSI. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on MKS in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $453.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of MKS in a report on Monday, August 3rd. 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. Citigroup lifted 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on MKS from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MKS has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.93.

MKS Profile

MKS Instruments, Inc (NASDAQ: MKSI) develops technologies that enable precision control and measurement in manufacturing and research environments. The company provides instruments, components, systems and process-control solutions used to measure and control pressure, flow, vacuum, gas delivery, temperature and other critical production conditions.

Its product portfolio includes vacuum solutions, pressure and flow-control instruments, gas and vapor delivery systems, plasma and reactive-gas technologies, power delivery systems, process-monitoring equipment, analytical instruments and materials-characterization tools.