Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,001 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 292 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in MSA Safety were worth $376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSA Safety by 51.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 183 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its position in MSA Safety by 0.4% in the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 17,756 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,437,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its position in shares of MSA Safety by 7.3% during the second quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 1,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of MSA Safety by 50.7% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 7,814 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nishan J. Vartanian sold 3,945 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.00, for a total value of $745,605.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 31,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,039,117. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target 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 raised shares of MSA Safety to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th.

MSA Safety Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE MSA opened at $178.31 on Tuesday. MSA Safety Incorporated has a 12 month low of $147.35 and a 12 month high of $200.60. The company has a market capitalization of $7.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.42 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $181.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.58.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last posted its 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. The business had revenue of $462.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $461.30 million. MSA Safety had a return on equity of 30.64% and a net margin of 14.97%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSA Safety Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. MSA Safety’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.