Maverick Capital Ltd. Purchases New Holdings in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Key Points

• Maverick Capital acquired 7,286 MKS shares in the first quarter, valued at approximately $1.67 million. Institutional investors collectively own 99.79% of the company.
• MKS insiders sold 53,949 shares worth $17.45 million over the past three months, including directors Gerald Colella and Joseph Donahue; insiders now own just 0.57% of the stock.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $385. MKS recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $2.30 in EPS and $1.08 billion in revenue.

Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,286 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $1,674,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of MKS in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in MKS by 616.7% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in MKS in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of MKS by 55.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 256 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In other news, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total value of $6,668,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,673,667.80. This trade represents a 49.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Joseph B. Donahue sold 2,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.95, for a total value of $688,695.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,033 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,290,322.35. This trade represents a 17.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MKSI. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $453.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, July 17th. Bank of America boosted their price objective 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, TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MKS has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.00.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKS stock opened at $315.70 on Tuesday. 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 fifty day moving average price is $351.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $283.07. The firm has a market cap of $21.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.93. MKS Inc. has a 12 month low of $88.49 and a 12 month high of $447.62.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. On average, equities research analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. MKS's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

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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