John Tseng-Chung Lee Sells 10,000 Shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total transaction of $3,020,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,703,699.76. The trade was a 6.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

John Tseng-Chung Lee also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, May 22nd, John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of MKS stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $3,154,800.00.

MKS Stock Performance

NASDAQ MKSI opened at $300.24 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $345.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $293.76. The stock has a market cap of $20.30 billion, a PE ratio of 47.89, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.14. MKS Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $97.30 and a fifty-two week high of $447.62.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.39. MKS had a return on equity of 24.72% and a net margin of 10.15%.The company had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.77 EPS. MKS’s revenue for the quarter 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, equities analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 12.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.95%.

Institutional Trading of MKS

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKSI. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,652,000. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MKS in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,275,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in MKS in the second quarter valued at approximately $455,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of MKS during the second quarter valued at approximately $17,056,000. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MKS during the second quarter worth approximately $279,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MKSI. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. KeyCorp increased their price target on MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Citigroup raised their price objective on MKS from $425.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $360.00 price objective on MKS in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.00.

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.