MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $360.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on MKS from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MKS currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.00.

MKS Stock Down 4.1%

NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $292.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.72. MKS has a 1-year low of $97.30 and a 1-year high of $447.62. The company has a 50-day moving average of $347.29 and a 200 day moving average of $290.28. The firm has a market cap of $19.75 billion, a PE ratio of 46.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.98.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.39. MKS had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 24.72%. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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 anticipate that MKS will post 12.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. MKS’s payout ratio is presently 15.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $3,154,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. This represents a 6.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 50,051 shares of company stock worth $16,184,527 over the last 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MKS

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of MKS by 560.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of MKS by 616.7% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new stake in MKS in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in MKS during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.