Renaissance Technologies LLC Takes $23.81 Million Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 103,603 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,809,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.15% of MKS at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in 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 worth $982,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of MKS by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 390 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in MKS by 10.4% in 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 buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in MKS by 1.3% in 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 buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its position in MKS by 0.4% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $3,154,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Michelle M. Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total value of $767,269.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2 shares in the company, valued at $630.46. This trade represents a 99.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKSI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.00.

MKS Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $257.61 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $350.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $284.34. The company has a market cap of $17.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. MKS Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.49 and a 52 week high of $447.62.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s payout ratio is 20.92%.

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.