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

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,400,700.50. The trade was a 13.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MKS Stock Down 1.8%

MKSI stock traded down $6.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $328.01. 910,929 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,387,000. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $270.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $221.35. The company has a market cap of $22.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.98. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $80.22 and a 1-year 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.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.71 EPS. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MKSI. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in MKS in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in MKS by 560.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in MKS by 616.7% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in MKS by 74.5% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 260 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in MKS in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MKSI. Mizuho set a $400.00 target price on shares of MKS in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MKS 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.