MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Peter Cannone III Sells 1,250 Shares

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Peter Cannone III sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.06, for a total value of $322,575.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,157,897.72. The trade was a 13.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

MKS Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $253.71 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The company has a market capitalization of $17.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.94. MKS Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.84 and a 52-week high of $269.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $206.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.93.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. MKS had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 20.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.15 EPS. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This is a boost from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.14%.

Key MKS News

Here are the key news stories impacting MKS this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple Wall Street firms recently raised price targets on MKSI, signaling continued analyst optimism about the company’s growth prospects; examples of recent target increases include $300 and $305 actions. Price Target Raised to $300.00 Price Target Raised to $305.00
• Positive Sentiment: MKS announced that President & CEO John T.C. Lee will participate in a fireside chat at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on March 2 (webcast available) — a visibility event that can provide fresh management commentary on demand, margins and roadmap. Company Conference Participation
• Neutral Sentiment: The Street remains broadly constructive on MKSI (multiple buy/overweight ratings and a recent median price target near $255), which supports a positive medium-term view but may already be reflected in the stock’s run-up. Analyst Coverage Summary
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling was disclosed on Feb. 20: CEO John T.C. Lee sold 30,000 shares (~$7.7M) and several other executives/directors sold additional stakes (total ~43,295 shares for roughly $11.1M). These sales materially reduced some insiders’ ownership (CEO down ~16.2%; others down as much as ~36%), which is putting downward pressure on the share price. SEC Form 4 filings are available for review. CEO Form 4

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of MKS from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on MKS from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday. Benchmark lifted their price target on MKS from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $273.46.

Institutional Trading of MKS

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in MKS in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of MKS by 560.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of MKS by 616.7% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MKS in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 74.5% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 260 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

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.