Jacqueline Moloney Sells 1,400 Shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Jacqueline Moloney sold 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.99, for a total transaction of $446,586.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,118,127.25. This trade represents a 12.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

MKS Price Performance

NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $303.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.98. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $257.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.40. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $80.22 and a 12-month high of $326.83.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its 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 company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.71 EPS. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Research analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.29 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is 20.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on MKSI. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $215.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $317.23.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in MKS by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,274 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $982,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in MKS by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 390 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in MKS by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 530 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in MKS by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,335 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in MKS by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 898 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.