GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Raises Stake in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Key Points

• GHP Investment Advisors increased its stake in MKS by 6.2% in Q1, bringing its holdings to 50,487 shares worth about $11.6 million.
• Institutional ownership remains extremely high, with hedge funds and other investors holding 99.79% of MKS stock, while several firms recently boosted or initiated large positions.
• Analysts remain generally bullish: MKS has a Moderate Buy consensus, an average price target of $343.77, and the company recently reported earnings and revenue that beat estimates.

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Free Report) by 6.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,487 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 2,926 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. owned about 0.07% of MKS worth $11,602,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MKS in the 4th quarter valued at $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter worth $95,880,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its position in shares of MKS by 159.7% in the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 839,773 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $134,196,000 after purchasing an additional 516,409 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of MKS by 9,165.9% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $55,232,000 after purchasing an additional 441,432 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 340,645 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on MKSI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "sell" rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $343.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MKS news, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 99.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value 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 $45,648,694.08. The trade was a 6.46% 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 sold a total of 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

MKS Trading Up 7.5%

NASDAQ MKSI opened at $410.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.84, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.11. MKS Inc. has a one year low of $88.49 and a one year high of $421.58. The company's 50 day moving average price is $320.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $252.55.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

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.

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