Brokerages Set MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Price Target at $382.86

Shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $382.8571.

MKSI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $360.00 price target on MKS in a research report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of MKS from $365.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on MKS from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MKS from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th.

MKS Price Performance

NASDAQ MKSI opened at $249.65 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $318.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $295.73. MKS has a 12-month low of $98.81 and a 12-month high of $447.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. MKS had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 24.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. Analysts forecast that MKS will post 13.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.95%.

Insider Activity at MKS

In other MKS news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.96, for a total value of $75,288.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,729,341.20. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Williams sold 457 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.31, for a total transaction of $131,757.67. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 4,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,181,494.38. This trade represents a 10.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,757 shares of company stock worth $3,227,146. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MKS

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in MKS by 44,581.4% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,732,653 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $15,449,084,000 after acquiring an additional 34,654,919 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,254,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $200,438,000 after purchasing an additional 5,551 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 44.2% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 982,643 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $97,635,000 after purchasing an additional 301,223 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MKS in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $147,453,000. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 buying 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.