MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Analysts

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $374.86.

MKSI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MKS from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 25th.

MKS Stock Up 4.9%

MKSI opened at $212.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $252.60 and a 200-day moving average of $276.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.84 and a beta of 2.03. MKS has a 12-month low of $134.74 and a 12-month high of $447.62.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 28.3% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. On average, analysts expect that MKS will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 25th. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MKS news, EVP John Williams sold 457 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.31, for a total transaction of $131,757.67. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 4,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,181,494.38. This represents a 10.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total value of $3,020,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 134,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,703,699.76. This trade represents a 6.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 10,757 shares of company stock valued at $3,227,146 over the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MKS

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKSI. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of MKS during the 2nd quarter valued at about $231,673,000. Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in MKS in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $140,866,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MKS in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $128,303,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in MKS by 1,742.1% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 442,273 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $117,362,000 after purchasing an additional 418,264 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new stake in MKS during the second quarter worth approximately $77,043,000. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

MKS Company Profile

MKS Instruments, Inc (NASDAQ: MKSI) develops technologies that enable precision control and measurement in manufacturing and research environments. The company provides instruments, components, systems and process-control solutions used to measure and control pressure, flow, vacuum, gas delivery, temperature and other critical production conditions.

Its product portfolio includes vacuum solutions, pressure and flow-control instruments, gas and vapor delivery systems, plasma and reactive-gas technologies, power delivery systems, process-monitoring equipment, analytical instruments and materials-characterization tools.