David Philip Henry Sells 2,500 Shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total transaction of $826,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,400,700.50. This trade represents a 13.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MKS Price Performance

MKS stock opened at $323.41 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $274.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $223.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.84 billion, a PE ratio of 67.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $80.22 and a 12-month high of $339.00.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.71 EPS. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Mizuho set a $400.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.92.

Institutional Trading of MKS

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MKSI. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MKS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of MKS in the 4th quarter valued at $95,880,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 516,409 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 441,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 340,645 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

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.