MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Receives $381.79 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation, thirteen have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $385.00.

A number of analysts recently commented on MKSI shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MKS from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Mizuho set a $360.00 price objective on MKS in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Monday, August 3rd.

MKS Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of MKSI stock opened at $306.29 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $345.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $292.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.98. MKS has a fifty-two week low of $97.30 and a fifty-two week high of $447.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.39. MKS had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 24.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. MKS’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.3% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MKS will post 12.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MKS news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $3,154,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total transaction of $826,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,400,700.50. This represents a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 47,651 shares of company stock worth $15,425,741 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MKS

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MKS by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,254,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $200,438,000 after acquiring an additional 5,551 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in MKS by 44.2% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 301,223 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MKS during the 4th quarter valued at $147,453,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in MKS by 63.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $87,249,000 after purchasing an additional 340,645 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 870,654 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $139,131,000 after purchasing an additional 24,349 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.