MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock Has Average Price Target of $375.93

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $375.93.

A number of brokerages recently commented on MKSI. Mizuho decreased their price target on MKS from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Wall Street Zen raised MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on MKS from $439.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on MKS from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Monday, August 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.96, for a total transaction of $75,288.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,729,341.20. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total transaction of $3,020,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,776 shares in the company, valued at $40,703,699.76. This trade represents a 6.91% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,757 shares of company stock valued at $3,227,146. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in MKS during the second quarter worth about $231,673,000. Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MKS during the 2nd quarter valued at about $140,866,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in MKS in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $128,303,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in MKS by 1,742.1% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 442,273 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $117,362,000 after acquiring an additional 418,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of MKS during the 2nd quarter valued at about $77,043,000. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MKS Stock Performance

MKSI opened at $196.55 on Wednesday. MKS has a fifty-two week low of $134.74 and a fifty-two week high of $447.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.29 billion, a PE ratio of 31.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company’s 50-day moving average is $255.93 and its 200 day moving average is $299.32.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.39. MKS had a return on equity of 24.72% and a net margin of 10.15%. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 28.3% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that MKS will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.95%.

About MKS

MKS Instruments, Inc (NASDAQ: MKSI) develops technologies that enable precision control and measurement in manufacturing and research environments. The company provides instruments, components, systems and process-control solutions used to measure and control pressure, flow, vacuum, gas delivery, temperature and other critical production conditions.

Its product portfolio includes vacuum solutions, pressure and flow-control instruments, gas and vapor delivery systems, plasma and reactive-gas technologies, power delivery systems, process-monitoring equipment, analytical instruments and materials-characterization tools.