Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. Makes New $1.94 Million Investment in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. purchased a new stake in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,360 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,939,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in MKS by 616.7% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in MKS in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in MKS by 55.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 256 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of MKS by 93.6% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 273 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other MKS news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $3,154,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,648,694.08. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $315.48. The trade was 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 ninety days, insiders sold 54,406 shares of company stock worth $17,577,866. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKS stock opened at $320.76 on Wednesday. MKS Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.49 and a 52 week high of $447.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $349.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $287.62. The company has a market cap of $21.66 billion, a PE ratio of 67.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.98.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 11.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MKSI. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of MKS from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MKS has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $383.57.

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.