MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) Hits New 12-Month High at $185.57

MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $185.57 and last traded at $184.99, with a volume of 38768 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $182.68.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on MSA Safety in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. William Blair raised shares of MSA Safety from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 12th. TheStreet raised shares of MSA Safety from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of MSA Safety from $168.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of MSA Safety from $159.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $183.00.

MSA Safety Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 578.19 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $172.91 and a 200-day moving average of $150.50.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.37. MSA Safety had a return on equity of 30.28% and a net margin of 0.80%. The business had revenue of $447.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $421.14 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSA Safety Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 15th. MSA Safety’s dividend payout ratio is presently 587.50%.

Insider Activity at MSA Safety

In related news, CAO Jonathan D. Buck sold 172 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.82, for a total transaction of $30,585.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $604,765.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CAO Jonathan D. Buck sold 172 shares of MSA Safety stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.82, for a total value of $30,585.04. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $604,765.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nishan J. Vartanian sold 2,500 shares of MSA Safety stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total transaction of $372,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 37,047 shares in the company, valued at $5,520,003. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,120 shares of company stock valued at $823,526 in the last quarter. Insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in MSA Safety by 19.5% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of MSA Safety by 37.5% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 6,856 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $910,000 after buying an additional 1,870 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of MSA Safety by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,793 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $796,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSA Safety by 36.1% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 24,055 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,192,000 after buying an additional 6,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of MSA Safety by 58.6% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,844 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $643,000 after buying an additional 1,789 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.51% of the company’s stock.

About MSA Safety

MSA Safety Incorporated develops, manufactures, and supplies safety products and software that protect people and facility infrastructures in the oil, gas, petrochemical, fire service, construction, industrial manufacturing applications, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration, utilities, military, and mining industries in North America, Latin America, and internationally.