MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $333.80 and last traded at $329.44, with a volume of 85506 shares. The stock had previously closed at $320.62.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp lifted their target price on MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC lifted 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. Citigroup lifted their target price on MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MKS from $354.00 to $374.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Two investment 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 given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $318.77.

MKS Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $268.23 and a 200 day moving average of $219.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $22.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.98.

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

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

Insider Activity at MKS

In other news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.44, for a total transaction of $71,832.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,468,668.72. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.94, for a total value of $1,393,338.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 49,439 shares in the company, valued at $15,817,513.66. The trade was a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 13,313 shares of company stock valued at $3,713,564 over the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MKS

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in MKS by 4.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,752,097 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $959,477,000 after buying an additional 295,480 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its holdings in MKS by 7.7% during the third quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,321,877 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $163,609,000 after buying an additional 94,692 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in MKS by 30.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,265,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $156,602,000 after buying an additional 297,850 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in MKS by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,254,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $200,438,000 after buying an additional 5,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in MKS by 44.2% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 982,643 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $97,635,000 after buying an additional 301,223 shares in the last quarter. 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.