John Tseng-Chung Lee Sells 10,000 Shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $3,154,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,648,694.08. This trade represents a 6.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MKS Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKSI opened at $328.01 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $272.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $222.56. MKS Inc. has a twelve month low of $80.22 and a twelve month high of $339.00. The company has a market capitalization of $22.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.98.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MKS

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MKSI. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $21,434,000 after acquiring an additional 9,170 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MKS by 63.4% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of MKS by 3,545.6% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 141,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $14,036,000 after acquiring an additional 137,392 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MKS in the second quarter worth approximately $1,676,000. Finally, AXA S.A. boosted its position in shares of MKS by 22.8% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 29,253 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Mizuho set a $400.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.92.

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.