MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Joseph Donahue Sells 2,100 Shares

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Joseph Donahue sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.95, for a total value of $688,695.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,290,322.35. This trade represents a 17.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKSI opened at $323.41 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $274.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $223.75. The stock has a market cap of $21.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.66, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.98. MKS Inc. has a 52 week low of $80.22 and a 52 week high of $339.00.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MKSI shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Mizuho set a $400.00 price objective on MKS in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.92.

Institutional Trading of MKS

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in MKS by 1.1% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,274 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $982,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in MKS by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 390 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in MKS by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 898 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $144,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

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.