Ramakumar Mayampurath Sells 8,810 Shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $2,779,378.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 1 shares in the company, valued at approximately $315.48. This trade represents a 99.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MKS Stock Performance

MKSI opened at $328.01 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.98. MKS Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.22 and a 52-week high of $339.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business’s fifty day moving average is $272.77 and its 200-day moving average is $222.56.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.MKS’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.71 EPS. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.92%.

Institutional Trading of MKS

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MKSI. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 616.7% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 74.5% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 260 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the third quarter valued at about $37,000. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on MKSI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. 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. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Mizuho set a $400.00 price objective on MKS in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.92.

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.