MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP John Edward Williams Sells 2,043 Shares

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP John Edward Williams sold 2,043 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.41, for a total value of $523,845.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,640 shares in the company, valued at $933,332.40. The trade was a 35.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKSI opened at $253.71 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.06, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.71. MKS Inc. has a one year low of $54.84 and a one year high of $269.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $206.74 and a 200 day moving average of $157.93.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 20.85% and a net margin of 7.53%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.15 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. This is a positive change from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MKS by 4.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,752,097 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $959,477,000 after buying an additional 295,480 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,321,877 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $163,609,000 after acquiring an additional 94,692 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of MKS by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,265,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $156,602,000 after acquiring an additional 297,850 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 2.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,258,108 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $125,025,000 after purchasing an additional 35,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 79.3% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of MKS from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MKS from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price objective on MKS from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MKS has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.46.

MKS News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting MKS this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple Wall Street firms recently raised price targets on MKSI, signaling continued analyst optimism about the company’s growth prospects; examples of recent target increases include $300 and $305 actions. Price Target Raised to $300.00 Price Target Raised to $305.00
• Positive Sentiment: MKS announced that President & CEO John T.C. Lee will participate in a fireside chat at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on March 2 (webcast available) — a visibility event that can provide fresh management commentary on demand, margins and roadmap. Company Conference Participation
• Neutral Sentiment: The Street remains broadly constructive on MKSI (multiple buy/overweight ratings and a recent median price target near $255), which supports a positive medium-term view but may already be reflected in the stock’s run-up. Analyst Coverage Summary
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling was disclosed on Feb. 20: CEO John T.C. Lee sold 30,000 shares (~$7.7M) and several other executives/directors sold additional stakes (total ~43,295 shares for roughly $11.1M). These sales materially reduced some insiders’ ownership (CEO down ~16.2%; others down as much as ~36%), which is putting downward pressure on the share price. SEC Form 4 filings are available for review. CEO Form 4

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.