Joseph Donahue Sells 2,100 Shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Joseph Donahue sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.95, for a total transaction of $688,695.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,033 shares in the company, valued at $3,290,322.35. This trade represents a 17.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

MKS Stock Down 1.0%

NASDAQ MKSI traded down $3.32 during trading on Thursday, reaching $324.69. 768,216 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,380,595. 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 firm has a market cap of $21.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.98. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $272.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $222.56. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $80.22 and a 12-month high of $339.00.

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

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. MKS’s payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MKSI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research report on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Two 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.92.

Institutional Trading of MKS

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in MKS in the 1st quarter worth approximately $9,062,000. Front Row Advisors LLC boosted its stake in MKS by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 8,105 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,863,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in MKS in the 1st quarter worth approximately $92,000. Anson Funds Management LP acquired a new stake in MKS in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,792,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in MKS by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 30,370 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $6,983,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MKS Company Profile

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.