Value Holdings Management CO. LLC Invests $70.92 Million in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Value Holdings Management CO. LLC purchased a new position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 159,452 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,925,000. MKS makes up approximately 11.9% of Value Holdings Management CO. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MKS in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new position in MKS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $95,880,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in shares of MKS by 159.7% during the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 839,773 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $134,196,000 after buying an additional 516,409 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MKS by 9,165.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $55,232,000 after buying an additional 441,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 63.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $87,249,000 after buying an additional 340,645 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MKSI. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $360.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Friday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MKS news, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total transaction of $826,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,400,700.50. This represents a 13.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total value of $3,020,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 134,776 shares in the company, valued at $40,703,699.76. This trade represents a 6.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 37,491 shares of company stock worth $12,102,072 in the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MKS Trading Up 0.1%

MKS stock opened at $281.88 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $343.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $294.36. MKS Inc. has a 52 week low of $97.50 and a 52 week high of $447.62. The stock has a market cap of $19.06 billion, a PE ratio of 44.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

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

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. MKS’s payout ratio is presently 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.