Insider Selling: MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) CAO Sells 1,466 Shares of Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) CAO Michelle Mccarthy sold 1,466 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $366,500.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MKSI traded down $6.50 on Monday, reaching $252.77. 646,595 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,665,215. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.98 billion, a PE ratio of 57.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.71. The company’s 50 day moving average is $204.86 and its 200-day moving average is $156.84. MKS Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.84 and a fifty-two week high of $269.91.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. MKS had a return on equity of 20.85% and a net margin of 7.53%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.15 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.720-2.280 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from MKS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MKSI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on MKS from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on MKS from $135.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Benchmark raised their price target on shares of MKS from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of MKS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $273.46.

Trending Headlines about MKS

Here are the key news stories impacting MKS this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management will present at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on March 2 (live webcast available), providing a platform to update investors and field questions. This raises visibility and could support multiple analyst views. MKS Inc. to Participate in Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple published price?target raises from analysts in the last 48 hours (examples include targets raised into the $255–$305 range), which signal continued bullish analyst conviction around MKS’s growth outlook. MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Price Target Raised to $300.00
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling disclosed (Feb. 20 filings): CEO John T.C. Lee sold 30,000 shares (~$7.7M at ~$256.77), and several EVPs/directors/CAO sold additional holdings. Large, clustered insider sales often prompt short?term share weakness as investors interpret them as liquidity/rotation or signal on timing. SEC Form 4 for the CEO sale is posted. SEC Filing: John T.C. Lee Form 4

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MKSI. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MKS during the 4th quarter worth $147,453,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of MKS in the fourth quarter worth about $95,880,000. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of MKS by 146.4% in the second quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 912,380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $90,654,000 after purchasing an additional 542,094 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its position in shares of MKS by 159.7% during the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 839,773 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $134,196,000 after purchasing an additional 516,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in MKS by 9,165.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $55,232,000 after purchasing an additional 441,432 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is currently 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.