MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP John Edward Williams Sells 2,043 Shares

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP John Edward Williams sold 2,043 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.41, for a total value of $523,845.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $933,332.40. This trade represents a 35.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

MKS Stock Performance

MKS stock traded down $6.50 on Monday, reaching $252.77. 646,595 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,665,215. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. MKS Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.84 and a twelve month high of $269.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $204.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $156.84. The stock has a market cap of $16.98 billion, a PE ratio of 57.84, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.95.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 20.85% and a net margin of 7.53%.The company’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.15 EPS. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. This is a positive change from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. MKS’s payout ratio is presently 22.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MKS

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in MKS by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 267,421 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $21,434,000 after purchasing an additional 9,170 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at $527,000. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at $336,000. Optimum Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of MKS by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 625 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in MKS by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,713,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting MKS

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of MKS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Mizuho set a $320.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark upped their target price on shares of MKS from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.46.

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.