MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) gapped up before the market opened on Friday. The stock had previously closed at $271.24, but opened at $284.10. MKS shares last traded at $281.9550, with a volume of 130,006 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MKSI shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on MKS from $439.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised MKS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.93.

MKS Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $19.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.93, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 2.03. The company’s fifty day moving average is $275.52 and its 200 day moving average is $298.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.39. MKS had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 24.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. The company’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 Inc. will post 13.13 EPS for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at MKS

In other MKS news, EVP John Williams sold 457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.31, for a total value of $131,757.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at $1,181,494.38. This trade represents a 10.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,776 shares in the company, valued at $40,703,699.76. This trade represents a 6.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,757 shares of company stock valued at $3,227,146. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MKS

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MKSI. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MKS in the fourth quarter valued at $147,453,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in MKS during the second quarter worth $231,673,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its position in MKS by 159.7% during the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 839,773 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $134,196,000 after acquiring an additional 516,409 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in MKS in the second quarter valued at $140,866,000. Finally, TimesSquare Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MKS in the second quarter valued at $128,303,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

About MKS

MKS Instruments, Inc develops technologies used to measure, control and analyze the processes involved in manufacturing semiconductors, electronics, specialty materials and other industrial products. The company serves original equipment manufacturers and production facilities worldwide, with solutions spanning vacuum control, pressure measurement, gas and fluid delivery, process monitoring and control.

Its product portfolio includes vacuum gauges and valves, mass flow controllers, gas and vapor delivery systems, pressure controllers, plasma-generation and power-delivery systems, analytical instruments, lasers and photonics equipment.