MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $257.61, but opened at $288.80. MKS shares last traded at $290.0840, with a volume of 485,362 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MKSI. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of MKS from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.00.

MKS Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $19.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.93. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $350.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $284.34.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total value of $826,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,400,700.50. This represents a 13.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $2,779,378.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $315.48. This trade represents a 99.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 9,170 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MKS by 63.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in MKS by 3,545.6% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 141,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $14,036,000 after acquiring an additional 137,392 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,676,000. Finally, AXA S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of MKS by 22.8% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 29,253 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,907,000 after acquiring an additional 5,430 shares during the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.