MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock to Pay Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share by the scientific and technical instruments company on Monday, December 7th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 25th.

MKS has a dividend payout ratio of 12.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect MKS to earn $17.49 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 5.7%.

MKS Price Performance

MKSI stock opened at $194.95 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $243.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $277.24. The firm has a market cap of $13.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.09, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.14. MKS has a 1 year low of $134.74 and a 1 year high of $447.62.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.55. MKS had a return on equity of 24.72% and a net margin of 10.15%. The company had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.93 earnings per share. MKS’s revenue was up 43.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MKS will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In other MKS news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.96, for a total value of $75,288.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,729,341.20. This trade represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total transaction of $3,020,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,703,699.76. This represents a 6.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MKS

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in MKS during the second quarter valued at approximately $231,673,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of MKS by 1,742.1% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 442,273 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $117,362,000 after acquiring an additional 418,264 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at $140,866,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MKS in the 2nd quarter valued at $128,303,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of MKS during the 2nd quarter valued at $77,043,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MKS Company Profile

MKS Instruments, Inc (NASDAQ: MKSI) develops technologies that enable precision control and measurement in manufacturing and research environments. The company provides instruments, components, systems and process-control solutions used to measure and control pressure, flow, vacuum, gas delivery, temperature and other critical production conditions.

Its product portfolio includes vacuum solutions, pressure and flow-control instruments, gas and vapor delivery systems, plasma and reactive-gas technologies, power delivery systems, process-monitoring equipment, analytical instruments and materials-characterization tools.