MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• MKS received a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 15 brokerages, with an average 12-month price target of about $318.77.
• The company reported better-than-expected Q1 results, posting EPS of $2.30 versus the $2.00 estimate and revenue of $1.08 billion versus $1.05 billion expected, while revenue rose 15.2% year over year.
• Insider activity showed recent share sales, including Director Peter Cannone III selling 1,350 shares, while institutional investors such as Vanguard and Dimensional Fund Advisors increased their holdings.

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $318.7692.

Several brokerages have weighed in on MKSI. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MKS from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In other news, Director Peter Cannone III sold 1,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.40, for a total transaction of $409,590.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,364,699.60. This represents a 14.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.44, for a total transaction of $71,832.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,663 shares in the company, valued at $4,468,668.72. This trade represents a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 23,313 shares of company stock valued at $6,253,264 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of MKS

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MKS by 4.0% during 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 last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its stake in shares of MKS by 7.7% during the third quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,321,877 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $163,609,000 after purchasing an additional 94,692 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of MKS by 30.8% during the third 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MKS by 0.4% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 5,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of MKS by 44.2% during the second 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 purchasing an additional 301,223 shares during the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of MKS stock opened at $320.62 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.98. MKS has a 1-year low of $80.22 and a 1-year high of $326.83. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $266.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $218.17.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.05 billion. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that MKS will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS's dividend payout ratio is 20.92%.

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.

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