MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $257.61, but opened at $288.80. MKS shares last traded at $290.0840, with a volume of 485,362 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MKSI. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on MKS from $355.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $383.57.

MKS Trading Up 1.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $20.09 billion, a PE ratio of 62.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $349.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $285.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a return on equity of 21.49% and a net margin of 8.06%.The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued 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 currently 20.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Michelle M. Mccarthy sold 2,434 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $630.46. This represents a 99.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total value of $3,154,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,648,694.08. This represents a 6.46% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,949 shares of company stock worth $17,446,108. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 47.5% in the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 1.1% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,274 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of MKS by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 390 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in MKS by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 530 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in MKS by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,335 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.