Persistent Asset Partners Ltd Acquires New Stake in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 3,577 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,591,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MKS in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 47.5% in the second quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new position in MKS in the second quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MKS Price Performance

MKSI opened at $310.73 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $345.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $292.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $21.01 billion, a PE ratio of 49.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.98. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $97.30 and a 1-year high of $447.62.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. MKS had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 24.72%. MKS’s quarterly revenue was up 28.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 12.96 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 25th. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total value of $826,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 16,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,400,700.50. This trade represents a 13.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $2,779,378.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $315.48. This trade represents a 99.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 46,301 shares of company stock worth $15,016,151. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MKSI. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on MKS from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MKS from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings raised MKS from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of MKS in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of MKS from $425.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.00.

MKS 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.