MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP David Philip Henry Sells 2,500 Shares of Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total value of $826,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 16,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,400,700.50. This represents a 13.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MKS Stock Performance

MKSI opened at $328.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $272.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $222.56. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $80.22 and a 1-year high of $339.00.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The company’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.71 EPS. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.25 per share. 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MKSI. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.92.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKSI. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of MKS by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 267,421 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $21,434,000 after purchasing an additional 9,170 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of MKS by 63.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of MKS by 3,545.6% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 141,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $14,036,000 after purchasing an additional 137,392 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of MKS during the 2nd quarter worth $1,676,000. Finally, AXA S.A. raised its position in shares of MKS by 22.8% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 29,253 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,907,000 after buying an additional 5,430 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.