John Tseng-Chung Lee Sells 30,000 Shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.77, for a total value of $7,703,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 154,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,721,291.92. The trade was a 16.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of MKSI traded down $6.50 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $252.77. The company had a trading volume of 646,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,665,215. The company has a market capitalization of $16.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.97, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.95. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.84 and a 12-month high of $269.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $204.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $156.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.04). MKS had a return on equity of 20.85% and a net margin of 7.53%.The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. Research analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. 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. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $366,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in MKS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,166,000. Dean Capital Management raised its stake in MKS by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 12,090 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,932,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MKS by 2,170.2% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 133,036 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $21,259,000 after purchasing an additional 127,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of MKS by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 10,968 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,753,000 after buying an additional 3,555 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting MKS

Here are the key news stories impacting MKS this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management will present at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on March 2 (live webcast available), providing a platform to update investors and field questions. This raises visibility and could support multiple analyst views. MKS Inc. to Participate in Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple published price‑target raises from analysts in the last 48 hours (examples include targets raised into the $255–$305 range), which signal continued bullish analyst conviction around MKS’s growth outlook. MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Price Target Raised to $300.00
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling disclosed (Feb. 20 filings): CEO John T.C. Lee sold 30,000 shares (~$7.7M at ~$256.77), and several EVPs/directors/CAO sold additional holdings. Large, clustered insider sales often prompt short‑term share weakness as investors interpret them as liquidity/rotation or signal on timing. SEC Form 4 for the CEO sale is posted. SEC Filing: John T.C. Lee Form 4

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on MKSI shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of MKS from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of MKS from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of MKS from $185.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of MKS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $273.46.

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.