Insider Selling: MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) CAO Sells $767,269.82 in Stock

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) CAO Michelle Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.23, for a total transaction of $767,269.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $630.46. This trade represents a 99.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MKS Stock Down 1.5%

MKSI stock opened at $316.07 on Thursday. MKS Inc. has a one year low of $88.49 and a one year high of $341.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.35 billion, a PE ratio of 66.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $290.88 and a 200-day moving average of $234.83.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.71 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.92%.

Institutional Trading of MKS

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MKS by 4.0% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 295,480 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 297,850 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in MKS by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,254,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $200,438,000 after acquiring an additional 5,551 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in MKS by 44.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 982,643 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $97,635,000 after acquiring an additional 301,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in MKS during the 4th quarter valued at about $147,453,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on MKSI shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $400.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.92.

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.