Cinctive Capital Management LP Makes New Investment in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Key Points

• Cinctive Capital Management opened a new position in MKS Inc. in the fourth quarter, buying 31,897 shares valued at about $5.1 million.
• MKS continues to draw strong institutional interest, with hedge funds and asset managers making notable additions; institutional investors now own 99.79% of the company.
• The stock has been buoyed by upbeat fundamentals and analyst sentiment: MKS beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, raised Q2 guidance, and Wall Street’s average rating is Moderate Buy with a $324.92 average price target.

Cinctive Capital Management LP purchased a new position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 31,897 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $5,097,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MKSI. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of MKS by 3.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 267,421 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $21,434,000 after buying an additional 9,170 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of MKS by 63.4% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of MKS by 3,545.6% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 141,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $14,036,000 after buying an additional 137,392 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MKS in the second quarter worth about $1,676,000. Finally, AXA S.A. lifted its position in shares of MKS by 22.8% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 29,253 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $2,907,000 after buying an additional 5,430 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MKSI. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Mizuho set a $400.00 price objective on MKS in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $324.92.

MKS Stock Up 1.4%

NASDAQ MKSI opened at $371.26 on Thursday. 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $303.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $242.34. The company has a market capitalization of $25.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.67, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.99. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.49 and a 1-year high of $386.01.

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

MKS Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS's payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

Insider Activity at MKS

In other MKS news, Director Joseph B. Donahue sold 2,100 shares of MKS stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.95, for a total transaction of $688,695.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 10,033 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,290,322.35. The trade was a 17.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total value of $6,668,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,017 shares in the company, valued at $6,673,667.80. The trade was a 49.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days, insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

About MKS

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.

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