MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Sells $72,681.80 in Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Jacqueline Moloney sold 340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.77, for a total value of $72,681.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,221,711.61. This trade represents a 3.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKSI traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $213.91. 406,677 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,590,769. The stock has a market cap of $14.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.90, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. MKS Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.84 and a twelve month high of $269.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $225.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $169.03.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.04). MKS had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 20.85%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. This is an increase from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MKSI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on MKS from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on MKS from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $215.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of MKS from $135.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MKS currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $273.46.

Institutional Trading of MKS

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in MKS by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 267,421 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $21,434,000 after buying an additional 9,170 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MKS during the 2nd quarter worth about $305,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MKS by 1.1% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 10,964 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in MKS in the second quarter valued at approximately $410,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in MKS by 50.2% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,897 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $884,000 after purchasing an additional 2,974 shares during the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.