MKS Inc. $MKSI Shares Purchased by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

Key Points

• Virginia Retirement Systems boosted its MKS stake by 57.3% in the fourth quarter, and institutional investors now own 99.79% of the stock.
• MKS delivered a strong quarterly report, with EPS of $2.30 topping estimates and revenue of $1.08 billion rising 15.2% year over year; the company also guided Q2 2026 EPS to $2.60-$3.20.
• Analysts remain constructive on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $317.23, while the shares recently traded near their 52-week high at $313.81.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al increased its stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Free Report) by 57.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,100 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al's holdings in MKS were worth $2,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MKSI. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in shares of MKS in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of MKS by 74.5% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 260 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of MKS in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of MKS in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of MKS by 1,734.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 422 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKSI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $354.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Bank of America upped their target price on MKS from $215.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $317.23.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKSI opened at $313.81 on Friday. MKS Inc. has a twelve month low of $80.22 and a twelve month high of $326.83. 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 company has a market capitalization of $21.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $256.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.77.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The business 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 business earned $1.71 EPS. The business'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 expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.29 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS's payout ratio is 20.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jacqueline F. Moloney sold 1,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.99, for a total transaction of $446,586.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,775 shares in the company, valued at $3,118,127.25. This represents a 12.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.97, for a total value of $2,539,700.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 40,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,163,117.49. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 74,258 shares of company stock worth $19,128,024. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

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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