Fourier Capital Management Ltd Makes New Investment in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Fourier Capital Management Ltd bought a new stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 29,858 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,281,000. MKS comprises 20.8% of Fourier Capital Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MKS by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,254,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $200,438,000 after purchasing an additional 5,551 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in MKS by 44.2% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 982,643 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $97,635,000 after buying an additional 301,223 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MKS during the fourth quarter worth about $147,453,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in MKS by 63.4% in the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $87,249,000 after buying an additional 340,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in MKS by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 870,654 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $139,131,000 after buying an additional 24,349 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MKSI. KeyCorp boosted their price target on MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Wall Street Zen raised MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on MKS in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $453.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MKS presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.00.

Insider Transactions at MKS

In other MKS 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 134,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,703,699.76. This represents a 6.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Edward Williams sold 457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.31, for a total value of $131,757.67. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 4,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,181,494.38. The trade was a 10.03% 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. Insiders have sold 37,491 shares of company stock worth $12,102,072 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKSI opened at $279.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $18.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.52, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $341.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $294.25. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $97.50 and a 12-month high of $447.62.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. MKS had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 24.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 12.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.95%.

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.