MKS Inc. $MKSI Stake Boosted by Blue Grotto Capital LLC

Blue Grotto Capital LLC grew its position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Free Report) by 96.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 415,500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 203,652 shares during the quarter. MKS comprises approximately 6.8% of Blue Grotto Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Blue Grotto Capital LLC owned about 0.62% of MKS worth $66,397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter worth $4,258,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MKS by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 18,476 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $2,952,000 after buying an additional 752 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter worth $232,000. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in MKS during the fourth quarter valued at $3,184,000. Finally, Fieldview Capital Management LLC lifted its position in MKS by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Fieldview Capital Management LLC now owns 25,208 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $4,028,000 after purchasing an additional 848 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "sell" rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $324.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MKS news, CAO Michelle M. Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total transaction of $767,269.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $630.46. This trade represents a 99.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $3,154,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,696 shares in the company, valued at $45,648,694.08. The trade was a 6.46% 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 90 days, insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKSI stock opened at $375.32 on Tuesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $298.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $239.29. 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 $377.66. The firm has a market cap of $25.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.99.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.71 EPS. 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 11.73 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. MKS's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

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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