MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) CEO Sells $3,154,800.00 in Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $3,154,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. This represents a 6.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MKS Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $323.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $274.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $223.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.84 billion, a PE ratio of 67.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.98. MKS Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.22 and a 52-week high of $339.00.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MKSI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MKS from $354.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MKS has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.92.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MKS

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in MKS during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in 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 valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in 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. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in MKS during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in MKS by 55.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 256 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.