Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Makes New $25.20 Million Investment in MKS Inc. $MKSI

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 56,650 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,198,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.08% of MKS as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MJP Associates Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of MKS in the second quarter valued at $269,000. Trillium Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in MKS in the 2nd quarter worth about $5,042,000. Value Holdings Management CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the second quarter worth approximately $70,925,000. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,652,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new stake in MKS during the second quarter valued at $8,219,000. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MKSI. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on MKS in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $453.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho set a $360.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. KeyCorp upped their target price on MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.00.

MKS Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKSI opened at $281.88 on Friday. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $97.50 and a 1-year high of $447.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $343.48 and a 200-day moving average of $294.36. 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 firm has a market cap of $19.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.96, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.98.

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

MKS Announces Dividend

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 issued 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 15.95%.

Insider Activity

In other MKS news, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total value of $6,668,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,673,667.80. The trade was a 49.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $40,703,699.76. The trade was a 6.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 quarter, insiders have sold 37,491 shares of company stock worth $12,102,072. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.