Elizabeth Mora Sells 300 Shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.44, for a total transaction of $71,832.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,468,668.72. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of MKSI stock traded down $9.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $235.08. 664,005 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,627,187. MKS Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.84 and a 12 month high of $269.91. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $215.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $163.07. The company has a market cap of $15.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.79, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.93.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for 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%.MKS’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 earnings per share 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. This is an increase from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MKSI shares. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of MKS from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of MKS from $215.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of MKS from $135.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of MKS from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of MKS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned 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 price target of $273.46.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of MKS by 3.6% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 9,170 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in MKS by 4.1% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 10,242 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 19.8% during the second quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 4,855 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio increased its stake in shares of MKS by 32.5% in the second quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 70,100 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $6,965,000 after buying an additional 17,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, South Dakota Investment Council raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 27.6% in the second quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 8,781 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $872,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. 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.