MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $324.28, but opened at $347.28. MKS shares last traded at $335.2550, with a volume of 94,657 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MKSI. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on MKS in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $453.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.00.

MKS Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $23.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.93. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $350.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $279.81. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In other MKS news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $3,154,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. This trade represents a 6.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of MKS stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total value of $826,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,400,700.50. This trade represents a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MKS by 47.5% during the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its position in MKS by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 3,857 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,716,000 after buying an additional 629 shares in the last quarter. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC raised its stake in MKS by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 23,048 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $10,252,000 after buying an additional 621 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Point Inc. acquired a new position in MKS during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $427,000. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.