Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 19,500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,481,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 560.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 616.7% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 55.2% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 256 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

MKS Trading Down 5.3%

Shares of MKSI opened at $388.61 on Friday. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.49 and a 1-year high of $421.58. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $322.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $253.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.30, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.99.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. MKS’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MKSI. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MKS from $354.00 to $374.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $343.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of MKS 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 $3,154,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,696 shares in the company, valued at $45,648,694.08. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total value of $826,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,400,700.50. The trade was a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 a total of 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.