Michelle Mccarthy Sells 2,434 Shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) CAO Michelle Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total value of $767,269.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $630.46. This represents a 99.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MKS Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MKSI traded up $17.25 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $318.90. The stock had a trading volume of 378,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,350,331. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $231.12. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.49 and a 12-month high of $341.81. The stock has a market cap of $21.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.99.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of MKS by 3.6% during 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 grew its stake in shares of MKS by 63.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of MKS by 3,545.6% during the second 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 buying an additional 137,392 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS during the second quarter valued at about $1,676,000. Finally, AXA S.A. grew its stake in shares of MKS by 22.8% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 29,253 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,907,000 after buying an additional 5,430 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus 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.