Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock Price

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) had its price objective cut by research analysts at Citigroup from $295.00 to $290.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 29.33% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on MKSI. Zacks Research raised MKS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Bank of America boosted their target price on MKS from $215.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on MKS from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on MKS from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. One equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MKS currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.08.

MKS Price Performance

MKSI traded down $12.61 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $224.24. The company had a trading volume of 672,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,561,458. MKS has a twelve month low of $54.84 and a twelve month high of $269.91. The company has a market capitalization of $15.08 billion, a PE ratio of 51.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.71. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $230.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.23.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kathleen Flaherty Burke sold 4,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,063,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 53,794 shares in the company, valued at $13,448,500. This trade represents a 7.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Eric Robert Taranto sold 4,568 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.52, for a total value of $1,007,335.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,405,931.40. This trade represents a 22.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 68,503 shares of company stock worth $17,288,099 over the last 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MKS

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of MKS by 34.2% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 102.3% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 11,855 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,995 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter valued at about $639,000. Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MKS in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $366,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of MKS in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,166,000. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.