Benchmark Cuts MKS Instruments (NASDAQ:MKSI) Price Target to $115.00

MKS Instruments (NASDAQ:MKSI – Get Rating) had its target price cut by Benchmark from $125.00 to $115.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

MKSI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. DA Davidson reiterated a buy rating on shares of MKS Instruments in a research report on Tuesday, January 3rd. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of MKS Instruments from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, January 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of MKS Instruments from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, March 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of MKS Instruments from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and issued a $115.00 price objective (up from $110.00) on shares of MKS Instruments in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MKS Instruments presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $115.73.

MKS Instruments Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of MKSI stock opened at $86.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.02 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.60. MKS Instruments has a twelve month low of $64.77 and a twelve month high of $163.89.

MKS Instruments (NASDAQ:MKSI – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.69. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $994.01 million. MKS Instruments had a net margin of 9.39% and a return on equity of 16.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MKS Instruments will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MKS Instruments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 24th. MKS Instruments’s payout ratio is 15.20%.

Institutional Trading of MKS Instruments

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Fund Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of MKS Instruments in the third quarter valued at $988,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of MKS Instruments by 51.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 105,387 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $8,708,000 after buying an additional 35,659 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MKS Instruments by 196.9% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 101,039 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $8,350,000 after buying an additional 67,013 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of MKS Instruments by 639.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,449 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 1,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its stake in shares of MKS Instruments by 17.8% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 1,536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.77% of the company’s stock.

About MKS Instruments

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MKS Instruments, Inc provides instruments, systems, subsystems and process control solutions to measure, control, power, monitor, and analyze parameters of manufacturing processes to improve process performance and productivity for its customers. It operates through the following segments: Vacuum & Analysis, Light & Motion and Equipment & Solutions.