MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

Key Points

• MKS declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, payable December 7 to shareholders of record November 25. That equals $1.00 annually and a 0.5% yield; the payout is well covered by earnings.
• MKS reported quarterly earnings of $4.18 per share, beating the $3.63 consensus, while revenue of $1.41 billion also topped estimates and rose 43% year over year.
• Analysts have a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $374.86.

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share by the scientific and technical instruments company on Monday, December 7th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 25th.

MKS has a payout ratio of 12.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect MKS to earn $17.49 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 5.7%.

MKS Stock Performance

Shares of MKSI opened at $194.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $13.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.09, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 2.14. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $243.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $277.24. MKS has a 1 year low of $134.74 and a 1 year high of $447.62.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.55. The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.36 billion. MKS had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 24.72%. MKS's revenue for the quarter was up 43.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MKS will post 13.14 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on MKSI shares. Weiss Ratings lowered MKS from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on MKS from $365.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $360.00 price target on MKS in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of MKS in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of MKS from $345.00 to $330.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued 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, MKS currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $374.86.

About MKS

MKS Instruments, Inc NASDAQ: MKSI develops technologies that enable precision control and measurement in manufacturing and research environments. The company provides instruments, components, systems and process-control solutions used to measure and control pressure, flow, vacuum, gas delivery, temperature and other critical production conditions.

Its product portfolio includes vacuum solutions, pressure and flow-control instruments, gas and vapor delivery systems, plasma and reactive-gas technologies, power delivery systems, process-monitoring equipment, analytical instruments and materials-characterization tools.

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