MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Sells $322,575.00 in Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Peter Cannone III sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.06, for a total value of $322,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,157,897.72. This trade represents a 13.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

MKS Price Performance

MKS stock traded down $6.50 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $252.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 646,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,665,215. MKS Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.84 and a 12 month high of $269.91. 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 $16.98 billion, a PE ratio of 57.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.95. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $204.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $156.84.

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

MKS Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is 22.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MKS by 43.4% during the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 295,963 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $36,631,000 after purchasing an additional 89,502 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in MKS in the third quarter worth $1,020,000. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in MKS by 13.1% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 58,933 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,856,000 after buying an additional 6,846 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in MKS by 50.2% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,897 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $884,000 after buying an additional 2,974 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. bought a new position in MKS during the second quarter valued at about $1,681,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on MKSI shares. Wall Street Zen cut MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on MKS from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on MKS from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of MKS from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of MKS from $135.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MKS has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $273.46.

MKS News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting MKS this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management will present at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on March 2 (live webcast available), providing a platform to update investors and field questions. This raises visibility and could support multiple analyst views. MKS Inc. to Participate in Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple published price‑target raises from analysts in the last 48 hours (examples include targets raised into the $255–$305 range), which signal continued bullish analyst conviction around MKS’s growth outlook. MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Price Target Raised to $300.00
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling disclosed (Feb. 20 filings): CEO John T.C. Lee sold 30,000 shares (~$7.7M at ~$256.77), and several EVPs/directors/CAO sold additional holdings. Large, clustered insider sales often prompt short‑term share weakness as investors interpret them as liquidity/rotation or signal on timing. SEC Form 4 for the CEO sale is posted. SEC Filing: John T.C. Lee Form 4

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.