MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Gerald Colella Sells 20,000 Shares

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Gerald Colella sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total transaction of $6,668,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,673,667.80. This represents a 49.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MKS Price Performance

MKSI stock opened at $323.41 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.66 and a 200 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 P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.98. MKS Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.22 and a 1 year high of $339.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

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

MKS Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MKS

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MKSI. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MKS in the 4th quarter valued at $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of MKS in the 4th quarter valued at $95,880,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 159.7% in the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 839,773 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $134,196,000 after purchasing an additional 516,409 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 9,165.9% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $55,232,000 after purchasing an additional 441,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 63.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $87,249,000 after purchasing an additional 340,645 shares during the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MKSI shares. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Mizuho set a $400.00 target price on MKS in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.92.

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.