MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Director Sells $409,590.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Director Peter Cannone III sold 1,350 MKS shares on May 18 at an average price of $303.40, totaling $409,590. After the sale, he still held 7,794 shares worth about $2.36 million.
• MKS reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.30 versus the $2.00 consensus and revenue of $1.08 billion, up 15.2% year over year. The company also issued Q2 guidance of $2.60 to $3.20 EPS.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with multiple firms raising price targets and MKS currently carrying a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $318.77.

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) Director Peter Cannone III sold 1,350 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.40, for a total transaction of $409,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,364,699.60. This trade represents a 14.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Peter Cannone III also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 20th, Peter Cannone III sold 1,250 shares of MKS stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.06, for a total transaction of $322,575.00.

MKS Stock Performance

MKSI traded down $11.91 on Tuesday, hitting $283.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 408,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,393,741. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $258.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $213.97. The firm has a market cap of $19.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.98. MKS Inc. has a 12 month low of $80.22 and a 12 month high of $326.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. MKS's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.71 EPS. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.29 EPS for the current year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. MKS's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

Institutional Trading of MKS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 43.4% during the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 295,963 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $36,631,000 after purchasing an additional 89,502 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of MKS during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,020,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS during the 4th quarter valued at $3,618,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 553.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 7,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $912,000 after purchasing an additional 6,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of MKS by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 304,831 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $37,729,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.79% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on MKSI. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MKS from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of MKS from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MKS from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of MKS from $354.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MKS presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $318.77.

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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