Axa S.A. Has $12.15 Million Stock Holdings in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

Axa S.A. grew its stake in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 64,725 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,367 shares during the period. Axa S.A. owned 0.16% of MSA Safety worth $12,148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in MSA Safety by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,826,135 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $645,966,000 after purchasing an additional 23,526 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of MSA Safety by 3.0% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 770,641 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $144,642,000 after buying an additional 22,366 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of MSA Safety by 3.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 738,951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $138,695,000 after buying an additional 22,979 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in MSA Safety by 12.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 718,969 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $139,186,000 after buying an additional 77,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its position in MSA Safety by 7.6% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 707,534 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $136,972,000 after acquiring an additional 49,670 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

MSA Safety Price Performance

NYSE:MSA opened at $176.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.21 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $180.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.37. MSA Safety Incorporated has a one year low of $147.35 and a one year high of $200.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.54.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.04. MSA Safety had a net margin of 14.97% and a return on equity of 30.64%. The firm had revenue of $462.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $461.30 million. Equities analysts expect that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

MSA Safety Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. MSA Safety’s payout ratio is currently 30.22%.

Insider Activity at MSA Safety

In other MSA Safety news, CEO Nishan J. Vartanian sold 3,945 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.00, for a total transaction of $745,605.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 31,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,039,117. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 6.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of MSA Safety from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. William Blair upgraded MSA Safety to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th.

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.