Insider Selling: MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP Sells 4,568 Shares of Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) EVP Eric Robert Taranto sold 4,568 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.52, for a total transaction of $1,007,335.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 15,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,405,931.40. This represents a 22.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Eric Robert Taranto also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 20th, Eric Robert Taranto sold 1,453 shares of MKS stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.55, for a total transaction of $359,690.15.

MKS Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ MKSI traded up $0.75 on Monday, reaching $210.75. The stock had a trading volume of 1,063,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,617,438. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $220.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $166.64. MKS Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.84 and a 12-month high of $269.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.93.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.47 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.15 earnings per share. The company’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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MKSI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of MKS from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup increased 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, February 19th. Mizuho set a $320.00 price target on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MKS has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $273.46.

Institutional Trading of MKS

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new position in MKS in the fourth quarter worth approximately $639,000. Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MKS in the 4th quarter valued at $366,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter worth $1,166,000. Dean Capital Management lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $1,932,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of MKS by 2,170.2% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 133,036 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $21,259,000 after purchasing an additional 127,176 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

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.