MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $343.7692.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MKSI shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $354.00 to $374.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $290.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th.

Insider Transactions at MKS

In other news, CAO Michelle M. Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total value of $767,269.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2 shares in the company, valued at $630.46. This represents a 99.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total value of $6,668,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,673,667.80. The trade was a 49.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108 over the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MKS

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MKSI. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in MKS by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 267,421 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $21,434,000 after buying an additional 9,170 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in MKS by 63.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in MKS by 3,545.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 141,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $14,036,000 after buying an additional 137,392 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in MKS in the 2nd quarter worth $1,676,000. Finally, AXA S.A. increased its stake in MKS by 22.8% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 29,253 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,907,000 after buying an additional 5,430 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

MKS Stock Performance

MKSI stock opened at $381.62 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.77 billion, a PE ratio of 79.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 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. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $317.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $250.81. MKS has a 12-month low of $88.49 and a 12-month high of $421.58.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.71 EPS. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that MKS will post 11.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

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

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.