MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $187.55 and last traded at $187.64, with a volume of 30813 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $186.08.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $151.00 target price on shares of MKS in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MKS in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on MKS from $136.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of MKS from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MKS from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.10.

MKS Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $157.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.42. The company has a market capitalization of $12.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.53, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 1.81.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $988.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $963.87 million. MKS had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 7.25%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. MKS has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.930-2.610 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MKS Inc. will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Investors of record on Monday, November 24th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MKS news, Director Elizabeth Mora sold 300 shares of MKS stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.81, for a total value of $47,643.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,011,514.03. The trade was a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MKS

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS in the 2nd quarter worth $214,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its holdings in MKS by 13.1% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 58,933 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,856,000 after buying an additional 6,846 shares during the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of MKS by 59.2% in the second quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 10,677 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after buying an additional 3,972 shares in the last quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of MKS during the second quarter valued at about $1,681,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of MKS by 63.9% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 952 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.