MKS Instruments (NASDAQ:MKSI) was downgraded by Dougherty & Co from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note issued on Thursday, The Fly reports.
MKSI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of MKS Instruments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of MKS Instruments from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 12th. Finally, Pacific Crest reissued a "buy" rating on shares of MKS Instruments in a research report on Monday, July 11th.
In other MKS Instruments news, VP John R. Abrams sold 3,498 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $146,916.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,943 shares in the company, valued at $207,606. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC.
Also, VP Brian Charles Quirk sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.25, for a total value of $36,250.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 13,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $478,862.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.
Other institutional investors recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MKS Instruments by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 136,594 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,917,000, after buying an additional 7,350 shares during the period.
AHL Partners increased its position in shares of MKS Instruments by 357.7% in the fourth quarter. AHL Partners LLP now owns 84,062 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,026,000, after buying an additional 65,694 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of MKS Instruments by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 650,229 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,408,000, after buying an additional 62,050 shares during the period.
GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of MKS Instruments by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 28,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,036,000, after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC bought a new position in shares of MKS Instruments during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,880,000.
MKS Instruments traded down 1.75% on Thursday, hitting $47.16. 1,563,861 shares of the stock were exchanged. MKS Instruments has a one year low of $29.00 and a one year high of $54.72. The company's 50-day moving average price is $43.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.75. The company has a market cap of $2.52 billion and a P/E ratio of 23.82.
MKS Instruments last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 27th. The company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.24. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. The firm had revenue of $325.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $288.62 million.
MKS Instruments's quarterly revenue was up 49.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that MKS Instruments will post $2.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 9th. Investors of record on Monday, August 29th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 25th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%.
Company
MKS Instruments, Inc (MKS) is a provider of instruments, subsystems and process control solutions that measures, controls, powers, monitors and analyzes critical parameters of advanced manufacturing processes to improve process performance and productivity. The Company operates through segments, including Advanced Manufacturing Capital Equipment, which includes the development, manufacturing and sales of instruments, control and vacuum products, power and reactive gas products; Global Service, which includes the worldwide servicing of instruments, control and vacuum products, power and reactive gas products and certain other product groups; Asia Region Sales, which includes sales of products that are re-sold from the Advanced Manufacturing Capital Equipment and Other segments into Asia regions, and Other.