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

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $180.00 to $250.00. The stock had previously closed at $190.30, but opened at $205.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. MKS shares last traded at $208.17, with a volume of 130,118 shares traded.

MKSI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $175.00 price objective on MKS and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Benchmark lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Mizuho set a $215.00 price objective on MKS in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on MKS from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $189.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MKS news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.81, for a total transaction of $47,643.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,011,514.03. This trade represents a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MKS

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MKS in the second quarter worth approximately $85,391,000. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. lifted its stake in MKS by 843.4% in the second quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 690,287 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $68,587,000 after purchasing an additional 617,113 shares during the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in MKS by 146.4% in the second quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 912,380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $90,654,000 after purchasing an additional 542,094 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in MKS by 9,165.9% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $55,232,000 after buying an additional 441,432 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MKS by 79.3% during the second quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 991,298 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $98,495,000 after buying an additional 438,338 shares during the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MKS Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $162.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $132.33. The stock has a market cap of $13.70 billion, a PE ratio of 49.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.92.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $988.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $963.87 million. MKS had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 7.25%.MKS’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. MKS has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.930-2.610 EPS. Analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 24th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.