MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP John Edward Williams Sells 457 Shares of Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP John Edward Williams sold 457 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.31, for a total transaction of $131,757.67. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,181,494.38. This represents a 10.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MKS Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MKSI opened at $320.76 on Wednesday. MKS Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.49 and a 1-year high of $447.62. The company has a market cap of $21.66 billion, a PE ratio of 67.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.98. 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 has a 50-day moving average of $349.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $287.62.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. MKS’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on MKSI. Bank of America lifted their target price on MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $360.00 price objective on MKS in a research report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on MKS from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MKS currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.57.

Institutional Trading of MKS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MKSI. Dorsey Wright & Associates bought a new position in MKS during the first quarter worth about $1,329,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of MKS by 3,011.9% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 19,294 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,434,000 after buying an additional 18,674 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of MKS by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 123,288 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $28,333,000 after acquiring an additional 8,904 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of MKS in the 1st quarter valued at about $23,809,000. Finally, Anson Funds Management LP bought a new stake in shares of MKS in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,792,000. 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.