MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Shares Down 8.1% – Time to Sell?

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI)’s stock price fell 8.1% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $306.97 and last traded at $302.51. 241,697 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 1,354,479 shares. The stock had previously closed at $329.18.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MKSI shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of MKS from $355.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp increased their target price on MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MKS presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.00.

MKS Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $20.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average is $351.31 and its 200 day moving average is $282.14.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.71 earnings per share. MKS’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. MKS’s payout ratio is 20.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total value of $6,668,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,673,667.80. This represents a 49.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $3,154,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. This trade represents a 6.46% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in MKS by 47.5% during the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of MKS by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,274 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of MKS by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 390 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MKS by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 530 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,335 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

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.