Gerald Colella Sells 10,000 Shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Gerald Colella sold 10,000 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.97, for a total value of $2,539,700.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 40,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,163,117.49. This trade represents a 19.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

MKS Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $255.91 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $210.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $159.68. MKS Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.84 and a twelve month high of $269.91. The company has a market capitalization of $17.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.95.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its quarterly 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). MKS had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 20.85%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. This is a positive change from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on MKSI shares. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of MKS from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Benchmark lifted 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $273.46.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MKSI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MKS by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,752,097 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $959,477,000 after buying an additional 295,480 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in MKS by 7.7% in the third quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,321,877 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $163,609,000 after acquiring an additional 94,692 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in MKS by 30.8% during the third 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MKS by 2.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,258,108 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $125,025,000 after acquiring an additional 35,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $98,495,000 after purchasing an additional 438,338 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting MKS

Here are the key news stories impacting MKS this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Brokerages have pushed price targets higher and reiterated buy/overweight views, which supports upside expectations for MKSI. Price Target Raises
• Positive Sentiment: MKS increased its quarterly dividend to $0.25 (from $0.22), signaling confidence in cash flow and returning more capital to shareholders. Dividend & Stock Data
• Positive Sentiment: CEO John T.C. Lee will speak at Morgan Stanley’s Technology/Media/Telecom conference (March 2) — a visibility event that could provide fresh color on demand, margins and the roadmap. Conference Participation
• Neutral Sentiment: Q4 was mixed: revenue grew ~10.5% and slightly beat consensus, but EPS missed by ~$0.04 and Q1 EPS guidance (1.720–2.280) leaves room for interpretation on near‑term margins. This supports the growth story but may already be priced in. Earnings Summary
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling reported Feb. 20–24: CEO and several executives/directors sold tens of thousands of shares (CEO sales alone roughly $7–8M), reducing some officers’ holdings materially — a near‑term negative that can pressure sentiment. CEO Form 4
• Negative Sentiment: Director Gerald G. Colella sold 10,000 shares (~$2.5M–$2.54M across filings), part of the broader wave of open‑market disposals that traders are watching. Colella Sale

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.