Insider Selling: MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP Sells $826,250.00 in Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of MKS stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total transaction of $826,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,400,700.50. This trade represents a 13.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MKS Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $324.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. MKS Inc. has a 12 month low of $80.22 and a 12 month high of $339.00. The company has a market cap of $21.90 billion, a PE ratio of 67.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $276.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $224.45.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Research analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.59 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s payout ratio is 20.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKSI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.92.

MKS News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting MKS this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research raised long-term earnings estimates for MKS, including FY2026 EPS of $11.86, FY2027 EPS of $15.00, and FY2028 EPS of $18.24, reinforcing the view that profit growth could remain strong. This kind of higher forward guidance can support the stock by signaling improving earnings power.
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s most recent earnings report beat expectations, with MKS posting $2.30 EPS on $1.08 billion in revenue, both above consensus. Strong results and raised Q2 guidance continue to back the bullish case for MKSI.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street has remained broadly constructive, with multiple firms maintaining Buy or Overweight ratings and several raising price targets into the $360-$400 range. That analyst support may be helping keep sentiment positive around MKS.
• Neutral Sentiment: MKS also reaffirmed its quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, which provides income support but is too small to be a major near-term stock driver.
• Negative Sentiment: Several insiders sold shares recently, including Director Gerald G. Colella, Director Joseph Donahue, and EVP David Philip Henry. While the sales were disclosed as planned transactions in at least some cases, insider selling can still create caution among investors.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MKS by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,752,097 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $959,477,000 after buying an additional 295,480 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in MKS by 30.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,265,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $156,602,000 after buying an additional 297,850 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MKS by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,254,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $200,438,000 after buying an additional 5,551 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in MKS by 44.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 982,643 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $97,635,000 after buying an additional 301,223 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in MKS in the 4th quarter worth $147,453,000. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

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.