Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases New Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 9,971 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $991,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Optimum Investment Advisors raised its stake in shares of MKS by 66.7% in the first quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of MKS by 89.3% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 581 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of MKS by 1,168.3% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 799 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of MKS by 79.2% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of MKS by 265.5% in the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 837 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 608 shares during the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKSI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a “sell” rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $105.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MKS currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $119.80.

Insider Activity at MKS

In other news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.85, for a total value of $29,955.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,263 shares in the company, valued at $1,923,410.55. This represents a 1.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jacqueline F. Moloney sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.10, for a total transaction of $27,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,092,490.20. This trade represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,600 shares of company stock worth $917,585. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MKS Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MKSI opened at $121.81 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $106.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 2.99. MKS Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.84 and a 52-week high of $132.44.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $973.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $931.05 million. MKS had a net margin of 7.11% and a return on equity of 20.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. Analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Monday, August 25th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 25th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. MKS’s payout ratio is currently 22.34%.

MKS Profile

MKS Instruments, Inc provides foundational technology solutions to semiconductor manufacturing, electronics and packaging, and specialty industrial applications in the United States, Germany, China, South Korea, and internationally. It operates through Vacuum Solutions Division (VSD), Photonics Solutions Division (PSD), and Material Solutions Division (MSD) segments.