Lisanti Capital Growth LLC Makes New $2.13 Million Investment in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Lisanti Capital Growth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,789 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,130,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dorsey Wright & Associates acquired a new position in MKS in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,329,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in MKS by 3,011.9% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 19,294 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,434,000 after purchasing an additional 18,674 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in MKS by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 123,288 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $28,333,000 after purchasing an additional 8,904 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MKS in the first quarter valued at $23,809,000. Finally, Anson Funds Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of MKS in the first quarter worth $3,792,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MKSI shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on MKS from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Mizuho set a $360.00 price target on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, August 6th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of MKS in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $453.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MKS news, EVP John Edward Williams sold 457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.31, for a total value of $131,757.67. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 4,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,181,494.38. The trade was a 10.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total transaction of $3,020,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 134,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,703,699.76. This trade represents a 6.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 56,301 shares of company stock valued at $18,036,251. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKSI stock opened at $281.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.72. MKS Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $97.30 and a fifty-two week high of $447.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $344.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.03. The firm has a market cap of $19.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.91, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.98.

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

MKS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. MKS’s payout ratio is 15.95%.

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.