Kathleen Flaherty Burke Sells 4,254 Shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,254 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,063,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 53,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,448,500. The trade was a 7.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MKSI traded down $6.50 on Monday, hitting $252.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 646,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,665,215. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.71. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.84 and a 12-month high of $269.91. The company has a market capitalization of $16.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $204.86 and a 200-day moving average of $156.84.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. MKS had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 20.85%. MKS’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.15 EPS. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. MKS’s payout ratio is presently 22.88%.

Trending Headlines about MKS

Here are the key news stories impacting MKS this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management will present at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on March 2 (live webcast available), providing a platform to update investors and field questions. This raises visibility and could support multiple analyst views. MKS Inc. to Participate in Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple published price‑target raises from analysts in the last 48 hours (examples include targets raised into the $255–$305 range), which signal continued bullish analyst conviction around MKS’s growth outlook. MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Price Target Raised to $300.00
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling disclosed (Feb. 20 filings): CEO John T.C. Lee sold 30,000 shares (~$7.7M at ~$256.77), and several EVPs/directors/CAO sold additional holdings. Large, clustered insider sales often prompt short‑term share weakness as investors interpret them as liquidity/rotation or signal on timing. SEC Form 4 for the CEO sale is posted. SEC Filing: John T.C. Lee Form 4

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MKSI. Mizuho set a $320.00 target price on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their target price on MKS from $185.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of MKS from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.46.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MKS in the 4th quarter valued at $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter valued at about $95,880,000. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its stake in MKS by 146.4% in the second quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 912,380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $90,654,000 after acquiring an additional 542,094 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in MKS by 159.7% during the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 839,773 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $134,196,000 after purchasing an additional 516,409 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MKS by 9,165.9% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $55,232,000 after purchasing an additional 441,432 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.