MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) Short Interest Update

MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) saw a large decline in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 326,600 shares, a decline of 24.6% from the June 30th total of 433,000 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 166,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSA shares. William Blair raised MSA Safety to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on MSA Safety from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSA Safety has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSA Safety

In other MSA Safety news, CEO Nishan J. Vartanian sold 11,000 shares of MSA Safety stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.29, for a total transaction of $2,038,190.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 56,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,524,472. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSA Safety

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in MSA Safety during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,960,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 30.3% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 26,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,151,000 after buying an additional 6,191 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 227,344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,382,000 after buying an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID lifted its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 35.3% during the first quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID now owns 122,898 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $23,792,000 after buying an additional 32,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSA Safety during the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,944,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

MSA Safety Stock Performance

MSA Safety stock traded down $2.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $189.58. 175,530 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 156,298. The firm has a market cap of $7.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.08 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $185.55 and a 200 day moving average of $182.84. MSA Safety has a 12 month low of $147.35 and a 12 month high of $200.60.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $413.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $428.38 million. MSA Safety had a return on equity of 30.61% and a net margin of 14.97%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSA Safety will post 7.83 earnings per share for the current year.

MSA Safety Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. This is a boost from MSA Safety’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. MSA Safety’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.22%.

MSA Safety Company 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.