Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. Sells 11,235 Shares of MKS Inc. $MKSI

Key Points

• Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. cut its MKS stake by 23.2% in the first quarter, selling 11,235 shares and leaving it with 37,234 shares valued at about $8.56 million.
• Analysts remain bullish on MKS, with multiple firms raising price targets; the consensus rating is “Moderate Buy” and the average target price is $380.
• MKS posted strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and it also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share.

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. trimmed its stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Free Report) by 23.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,234 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 11,235 shares during the period. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. owned about 0.06% of MKS worth $8,557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $21,434,000 after purchasing an additional 9,170 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MKS by 63.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in MKS by 3,545.6% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 141,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $14,036,000 after purchasing an additional 137,392 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MKS in the 2nd quarter worth $1,676,000. Finally, AXA S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 22.8% in the 2nd 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 period. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MKS from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.00.

MKS Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $324.28 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.90 billion, a PE ratio of 67.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.49 and a 12-month high of $447.62. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $348.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $277.20.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.71 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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 given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In related news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares in the company, valued at $45,648,694.08. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Joseph B. Donahue sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were 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 $3,290,322.35. The trade was a 17.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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