MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Sells $322,575.00 in Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Peter Cannone III sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.06, for a total value of $322,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,157,897.72. The trade was a 13.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

MKS Stock Performance

MKS stock traded down $6.50 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $252.77. 646,595 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,665,215. MKS Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.84 and a 12 month high of $269.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $204.86 and a 200 day moving average of $156.84. The firm has a market cap of $16.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.84, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.95.

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

MKS Increases Dividend

The company 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 represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. This is a positive change from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.88%.

More MKS News

Here are the key news stories impacting MKS this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management will present at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on March 2 (live webcast available), providing a platform to update investors and field questions. This raises visibility and could support multiple analyst views. MKS Inc. to Participate in Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple published price‑target raises from analysts in the last 48 hours (examples include targets raised into the $255–$305 range), which signal continued bullish analyst conviction around MKS’s growth outlook. MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Price Target Raised to $300.00
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling disclosed (Feb. 20 filings): CEO John T.C. Lee sold 30,000 shares (~$7.7M at ~$256.77), and several EVPs/directors/CAO sold additional holdings. Large, clustered insider sales often prompt short‑term share weakness as investors interpret them as liquidity/rotation or signal on timing. SEC Form 4 for the CEO sale is posted. SEC Filing: John T.C. Lee Form 4

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark boosted their price objective on MKS from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of MKS from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of MKS from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MKS has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.46.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MKS by 43.4% in the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 295,963 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $36,631,000 after acquiring an additional 89,502 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in MKS during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,020,000. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of MKS by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 58,933 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,856,000 after purchasing an additional 6,846 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 50.2% in the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,897 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $884,000 after buying an additional 2,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of MKS during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,681,000. 99.79% of the stock is 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.