MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Sells $6,668,000.00 in Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Gerald Colella sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total transaction of $6,668,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,673,667.80. This represents a 49.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MKS Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of MKS stock traded down $3.32 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $324.69. 768,216 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,380,595. The company has a 50 day moving average of $272.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $222.56. MKS Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.22 and a fifty-two week high of $339.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $21.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.98.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MKSI shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MKS presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.92.

Institutional Trading of MKS

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in MKS in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in MKS by 560.0% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in MKS by 616.7% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of MKS during the third quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

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.