MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) gapped up before the market opened on Friday. The stock had previously closed at $271.24, but opened at $284.10. MKS shares last traded at $281.9550, with a volume of 130,006 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on MKS from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MKS from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $375.93.

MKS Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $275.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $298.28. The company has a market capitalization of $19.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.93, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.39. MKS had a return on equity of 24.72% and a net margin of 10.15%.The company had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.3% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 25th. MKS’s payout ratio is currently 15.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In other MKS news, EVP John Williams sold 457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.31, for a total transaction of $131,757.67. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,181,494.38. This represents a 10.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 MKS 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 134,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,703,699.76. This represents a 6.91% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,757 shares of company stock worth $3,227,146. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MKS

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MKSI. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter worth $147,453,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in MKS during the 2nd quarter worth $231,673,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in MKS by 159.7% during the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 839,773 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $134,196,000 after acquiring an additional 516,409 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in MKS in the second quarter valued at about $140,866,000. Finally, TimesSquare Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MKS in the second quarter worth about $128,303,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

About MKS

MKS Instruments, Inc develops technologies used to measure, control and analyze the processes involved in manufacturing semiconductors, electronics, specialty materials and other industrial products. The company serves original equipment manufacturers and production facilities worldwide, with solutions spanning vacuum control, pressure measurement, gas and fluid delivery, process monitoring and control.

Its product portfolio includes vacuum gauges and valves, mass flow controllers, gas and vapor delivery systems, pressure controllers, plasma-generation and power-delivery systems, analytical instruments, lasers and photonics equipment.