MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Reaches New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $300.00. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has an overweight rating on the stock. MKS traded as high as $212.16 and last traded at $210.42, with a volume of 414146 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $203.99.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on MKSI. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of MKS from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on MKS from $92.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Bank of America boosted their price target on MKS from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Benchmark increased their target price on shares of MKS from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.27.

Insider Transactions at MKS

In other MKS news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.81, for a total transaction of $47,643.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,011,514.03. The trade was a 1.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MKS

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MKS during the 2nd quarter worth $85,391,000. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. grew its position in MKS by 843.4% in the 2nd quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 690,287 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $68,587,000 after purchasing an additional 617,113 shares in the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its stake in MKS by 146.4% in the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 912,380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $90,654,000 after buying an additional 542,094 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MKS by 9,165.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $55,232,000 after buying an additional 441,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC grew its stake in MKS by 79.3% in the 2nd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 991,298 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $98,495,000 after purchasing an additional 438,338 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MKS Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $164.94 and its 200-day moving average is $134.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market cap of $14.15 billion, a PE ratio of 51.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.92.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $988.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $963.87 million. MKS had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 7.25%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. MKS has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.930-2.610 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Investors of record on Monday, November 24th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.36%.

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.