MKS Inc. $MKSI is Blue Grotto Capital LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Blue Grotto Capital LLC boosted its stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 96.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 415,500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 203,652 shares during the quarter. MKS comprises 6.8% of Blue Grotto Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Blue Grotto Capital LLC’s holdings in MKS were worth $66,397,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in MKS by 14.7% during the 4th 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. grew its holdings 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 valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in MKS by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 898 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC grew its holdings in MKS by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 15,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,401,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on MKSI shares. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.92.

MKS Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $375.32 on Tuesday. MKS Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.49 and a twelve month high of $377.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $298.40 and a 200-day moving average of $239.29. The firm has a market cap of $25.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.99.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.92%.

Insider Activity

In other MKS news, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $2,779,378.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 1 shares in the company, valued at $315.48. This trade represents a 99.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $3,154,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. This trade represents a 6.46% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.