Park West Asset Management LLC Takes Position in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Park West Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 138,740 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,712,000. MKS accounts for approximately 4.2% of Park West Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MKSI. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in MKS in the second quarter worth $25,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in MKS by 560.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 616.7% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new stake in MKS during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on MKSI. Bank of America raised 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. Citigroup increased their target price on MKS from $425.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $382.86.

Insider Activity at MKS

In related news, EVP John Edward Williams sold 457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.31, for a total value of $131,757.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 4,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,181,494.38. This represents a 10.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through 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 value of $3,020,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,703,699.76. This represents a 6.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,891 shares of company stock worth $3,919,127. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

MKS Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $271.75 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $18.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $97.50 and a twelve month high of $447.62. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $335.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $295.63.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $1.25 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 28.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. Analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 12.96 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

About MKS

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.