Insider Selling: MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) CEO Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $3,154,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,648,694.08. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MKS Trading Up 3.6%

MKSI traded up $11.58 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $332.20. 511,051 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,387,951. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $268.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $219.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70. MKS Inc. has a 52 week low of $80.22 and a 52 week high of $334.65.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.71 EPS. MKS’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. 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 currently 20.92%.

Institutional Trading of MKS

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in MKS by 43.4% during the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 295,963 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $36,631,000 after purchasing an additional 89,502 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in MKS during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,020,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new stake in MKS during the 4th quarter valued at $3,618,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in MKS by 553.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 7,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $912,000 after purchasing an additional 6,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First National Bank of Omaha purchased a new stake in MKS during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,668,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MKSI shares. Wall Street Zen lowered MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Citigroup increased their target price on MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MKS has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $318.77.

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.