MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, twelve have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $382.8571.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MKSI shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $425.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on MKS in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $453.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MKS from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th.

Insider Activity

In other MKS news, EVP John Williams sold 457 shares of MKS stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.31, for a total transaction of $131,757.67. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 4,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,181,494.38. The trade was a 10.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total value of $3,020,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 134,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,703,699.76. The trade was a 6.91% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,757 shares of company stock worth $3,227,146. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in MKS by 44,581.4% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,732,653 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $15,449,084,000 after buying an additional 34,654,919 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in MKS by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,254,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $200,438,000 after purchasing an additional 5,551 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in MKS by 44.2% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 982,643 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $97,635,000 after purchasing an additional 301,223 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in MKS in the fourth quarter worth $147,453,000. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in MKS by 63.4% in the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 878,114 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $87,249,000 after purchasing an additional 340,645 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MKS Price Performance

MKS stock opened at $260.31 on Tuesday. MKS has a 1-year low of $102.14 and a 1-year high of $447.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.98. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $312.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $295.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.39. MKS had a return on equity of 24.72% and a net margin of 10.15%.The business had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. MKS’s revenue was up 28.3% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.890 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that MKS will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.95%.

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.