MKS Instruments (NASDAQ:MKSI) Sets New 1-Year High at $135.36

MKS Instruments, Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $135.36 and last traded at $135.32, with a volume of 21552 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $133.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MKSI. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of MKS Instruments from $115.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of MKS Instruments from $85.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of MKS Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on MKS Instruments from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded MKS Instruments from a "d+" rating to a "c-" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MKS Instruments has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $120.00.

MKS Instruments Stock Down 0.3 %

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $120.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.05. The company has a current ratio of 3.18, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90. The company has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a PE ratio of -4.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 1.67.

MKS Instruments (NASDAQ:MKSI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $893.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $845.25 million. MKS Instruments had a positive return on equity of 9.95% and a negative net margin of 50.80%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.00 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MKS Instruments, Inc. will post 4.54 earnings per share for the current year.

MKS Instruments Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. MKS Instruments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -3.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MKS Instruments news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.90, for a total value of $25,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,112 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,726,600.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other MKS Instruments news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.90, for a total value of $25,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,112 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,726,600.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Seth H. Bagshaw sold 32,865 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.28, for a total value of $4,051,597.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1 shares of the company's stock, valued at $123.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 60,776 shares of company stock valued at $7,318,282 in the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MKS Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of MKS Instruments by 69.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,084,331 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $831,636,000 after purchasing an additional 3,324,764 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MKS Instruments by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,892,941 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $709,077,000 after purchasing an additional 39,045 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in MKS Instruments by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,718,274 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $618,145,000 after acquiring an additional 234,495 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in MKS Instruments by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,642,162 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $696,324,000 after acquiring an additional 241,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in MKS Instruments by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,490,779 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $461,966,000 after acquiring an additional 581,453 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MKS Instruments Company Profile

MKS Instruments, Inc provides foundational technology solutions to semiconductor manufacturing, electronics and packaging, and specialty industrial applications in the United States, Germany, China, South Korea, and internationally. It operates through Vacuum Solutions Division (VSD), Photonics Solutions Division (PSD), and Material Solutions Division (MSD) segments.