DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 4,576 Shares of MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale reduced its holdings in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) by 19.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,576 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in MSA Safety were worth $3,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in MSA Safety in the 4th quarter worth about $4,960,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MSA Safety by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,802,609 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $599,481,000 after purchasing an additional 14,236 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of MSA Safety during the 3rd quarter valued at about $461,000. Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of MSA Safety during the 3rd quarter valued at about $389,000. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its position in shares of MSA Safety by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 281,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $44,388,000 after purchasing an additional 67,902 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MSA Safety

In related news, Director Rebecca B. Roberts sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.84, for a total transaction of $200,024.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,540,912.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other MSA Safety news, CAO Jonathan D. Buck sold 305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.50, for a total value of $56,577.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $650,363. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rebecca B. Roberts sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.84, for a total value of $200,024.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,540,912.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,504 shares of company stock worth $1,017,991 in the last ninety days. 6.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded MSA Safety from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on MSA Safety from $200.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $189.50.

MSA Safety Price Performance

Shares of MSA Safety stock opened at $190.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.48 billion, a PE ratio of 131.24 and a beta of 1.01. MSA Safety Incorporated has a 12 month low of $122.57 and a 12 month high of $196.02. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $183.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The industrial products company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $495.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $467.52 million. MSA Safety had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 3.28%. MSA Safety’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSA Safety Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 15th were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. MSA Safety’s dividend payout ratio is presently 129.66%.

MSA Safety Profile

MSA Safety Incorporated develops, manufactures, and supplies safety products and technology solutions that protect people and facility infrastructures in the fire service, energy, utility, construction, and industrial manufacturing applications, as well as heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration industries worldwide.