MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Sells $2,539,700.00 in Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Gerald Colella sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.97, for a total transaction of $2,539,700.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 40,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,163,117.49. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKSI stock opened at $244.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.95. The business has a fifty day moving average of $212.55 and a 200 day moving average of $160.27. 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 1 year low of $54.84 and a 1 year high of $269.91.

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

MKS Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MKSI. Citigroup upped their price objective on MKS from $185.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of MKS from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on MKS from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Benchmark increased their target price on shares of MKS from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $273.46.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position 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 worth $26,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MKS in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 74.5% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 260 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.