MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $150.00 to $175.00. The stock had previously closed at $190.30, but opened at $205.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. MKS shares last traded at $208.17, with a volume of 130,118 shares traded.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $175.00 target price on shares of MKS and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $151.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Mizuho set a $215.00 target price on shares of MKS in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of MKS from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.82.

Insider Transactions at MKS

In other MKS news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.81, for a total value of $47,643.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,011,514.03. The trade was a 1.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in MKS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of MKS by 74.5% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 260 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of MKS in the third quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in MKS in the third quarter valued at $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

MKS Stock Up 9.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 1.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.65, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $160.90 and its 200-day moving average is $131.09.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $988.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $963.87 million. MKS had a net margin of 7.25% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. MKS has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.930-2.610 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Investors of record on Monday, November 24th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. MKS’s payout ratio is currently 21.36%.

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.