MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $368.06, but opened at $342.86. MKS shares last traded at $342.2910, with a volume of 276,382 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MKSI shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Mizuho set a $400.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MKS presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.93.

MKS Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The business has a 50-day moving average of $337.14 and a 200-day moving average of $263.99. The company has a market capitalization of $23.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.93.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MKS news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $3,154,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,648,694.08. This trade represents a 6.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total value of $6,668,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,673,667.80. This trade represents a 49.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108 over the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter worth approximately $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of MKS in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $95,880,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its stake in MKS by 159.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 516,409 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in MKS by 9,165.9% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $55,232,000 after purchasing an additional 441,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in MKS by 63.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $87,249,000 after purchasing an additional 340,645 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.