MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Rating Lowered to Buy at Wall Street Zen

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on MKSI. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on MKS from $136.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of MKS from $92.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $122.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $175.00 price objective on shares of MKS and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $151.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MKS currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.10.

MKS Trading Up 5.4%

NASDAQ MKSI opened at $168.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $154.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.34. MKS has a 12 month low of $54.84 and a 12 month high of $170.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.86, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.92.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.13. MKS had a net margin of 7.25% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The firm had revenue of $988.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $963.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.930-2.610 EPS. On average, analysts predict that MKS will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MKS news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.81, for a total transaction of $47,643.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,011,514.03. This represents a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MKS

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MKS in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MKS by 74.5% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 260 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in MKS in the third quarter worth $37,000. Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in MKS during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in MKS in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.