Insider Selling: MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) CAO Sells 2,434 Shares of Stock

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

MKS Trading Up 5.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:MKSI traded up $17.25 on Monday, reaching $318.90. 378,743 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,350,331. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $285.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.12. MKS Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.49 and a 52 week high of $341.81. The stock has a market capitalization 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. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of MKS by 10.2% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,058 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS during the first quarter valued at approximately $9,062,000. Front Row Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of MKS by 2.5% during the first quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 8,105 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,863,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS during the first quarter valued at approximately $92,000. Finally, Anson Funds Management LP bought a new position in shares of MKS during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,792,000. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MKSI. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.