John Tseng-Chung Lee Sells 30,000 Shares of MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.77, for a total value of $7,703,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 154,696 shares in the company, valued at $39,721,291.92. This represents a 16.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

MKS Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of MKSI stock traded down $6.50 during trading on Monday, hitting $252.77. 646,595 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,665,215. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $204.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.84. MKS Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.84 and a twelve month high of $269.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.97, 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 quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 2.71.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last posted 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 net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 20.85%. The company 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 firm earned $2.15 earnings per share. The company’s 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, analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Increases Dividend

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

Key MKS News

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MKS

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MKSI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MKS by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,752,097 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $959,477,000 after buying an additional 295,480 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its holdings in MKS by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,321,877 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $163,609,000 after purchasing an additional 94,692 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in MKS by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,265,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $156,602,000 after purchasing an additional 297,850 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,258,108 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $125,025,000 after purchasing an additional 35,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MKS by 79.3% during the second quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 991,298 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $98,495,000 after buying an additional 438,338 shares during the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on MKSI. Zacks Research raised shares of MKS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their target price on MKS from $185.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $273.46.

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.