PDT Partners LLC Makes New Investment in MKS Inc. $MKSI

PDT Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 72,347 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,180,000. MKS makes up about 1.7% of PDT Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. PDT Partners LLC owned about 0.11% of MKS as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of MKS during the second quarter worth $23,663,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the 2nd quarter valued at $51,816,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new stake in MKS during the 2nd quarter worth $70,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in MKS during the 2nd quarter worth $1,297,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in MKS by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 45,270 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $20,136,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MKS

In other news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 value 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Michelle M. Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total value of $767,269.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2 shares in the company, valued at $630.46. This trade represents a 99.92% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 12,891 shares of company stock valued at $3,919,127 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MKSI shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of MKS from $425.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MKS presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $382.86.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKSI opened at $270.48 on Wednesday. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $337.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $295.31. MKS Inc. has a 12 month low of $97.50 and a 12 month high of $447.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.98.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.39. MKS had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 24.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. The business’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. As a group, analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 12.96 EPS for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

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