MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Receives Overweight Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Key Points

• Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on MKS Instruments and set a $600 price target, implying 101.71% potential upside from the reported $297.45 share price.
• MKS reported quarterly earnings of $2.30 per share, beating estimates of $2.00, while revenue rose 15.2% year over year to $1.08 billion. Analysts collectively maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $383.57.
• Insiders sold 53,949 shares worth $17.45 million over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own 99.79% of the company’s stock.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reissued by investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $600.00 target price on the scientific and technical instruments company's stock. Cantor Fitzgerald's price target suggests a potential upside of 101.71% from the stock's current price.

MKSI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of MKS from $305.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of MKS from $360.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "sell" rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $383.57.

MKS Price Performance

Shares of MKSI opened at $297.45 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.23, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.98. MKS has a one year low of $88.49 and a one year high of $447.62. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $349.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $285.88. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $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, sell-side analysts predict that MKS will post 11.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MKS

In other news, CEO John Tseng-Chung Lee sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $3,154,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 144,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,648,694.08. This represents a 6.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gerald G. Colella sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.40, for a total value of $6,668,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,673,667.80. This represents a 49.98% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dorsey Wright & Associates bought a new position in MKS in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,329,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of MKS by 3,011.9% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 19,294 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $4,434,000 after acquiring an additional 18,674 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of MKS by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 123,288 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $28,333,000 after acquiring an additional 8,904 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of MKS in the 1st quarter valued at $23,809,000. Finally, Bowie Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS in the 1st quarter worth $14,844,000. Institutional investors own 99.79% of the company's stock.

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.

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