MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

MKSI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $354.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp raised their target price on MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised MKS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MKS currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $317.23.

MKS Price Performance

MKSI stock opened at $313.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.71. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $249.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $205.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.09 billion, a PE ratio of 65.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.98. MKS has a 1 year low of $78.62 and a 1 year high of $326.83.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during 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%.The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that MKS will post 10.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In other news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.77, for a total transaction of $7,703,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 154,696 shares in the company, valued at $39,721,291.92. This trade represents a 16.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,063,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 53,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,448,500. This represents a 7.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 68,503 shares of company stock valued at $17,288,099. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MKSI. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position 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 worth $26,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position 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 worth $27,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 worth $32,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of MKS during the third quarter worth $37,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about MKS

Here are the key news stories impacting MKS this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup raised its price target on MKS Inc. to $355 from $290 and kept a buy rating, implying more upside from current levels. Citigroup price target raise
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan lifted its target to $365 from $305 and maintained an overweight rating, reinforcing bullish sentiment around the stock. JPMorgan price target raise
• Positive Sentiment: Needham increased its target to $360 from $300 and reiterated a buy rating, adding to the list of analysts turning more constructive on MKS. Needham price target raise

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.