Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $3.87 Million Stock Position in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,598 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. owned 0.05% of MSA Safety worth $3,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSA. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in MSA Safety by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 26,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,151,000 after purchasing an additional 6,191 shares during the last quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID raised its position in shares of MSA Safety by 35.3% in the 1st quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID now owns 122,898 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $23,792,000 after buying an additional 32,054 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 231.0% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 63,941 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,294,000 after acquiring an additional 44,625 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its position in shares of MSA Safety by 80.9% during the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 17,173 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,323,000 after acquiring an additional 7,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new position in MSA Safety in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,625,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. William Blair upgraded MSA Safety to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of MSA Safety from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th.

Insider Activity at MSA Safety

In other MSA Safety news, CEO Nishan J. Vartanian sold 3,945 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.00, for a total transaction of $745,605.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 31,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,039,117. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSA Safety Stock Performance

NYSE MSA opened at $184.25 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $181.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.55. The stock has a market cap of $7.26 billion, a PE ratio of 27.30 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.45. MSA Safety Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $147.35 and a fifty-two week high of $200.60.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $462.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $461.30 million. MSA Safety had a return on equity of 30.64% and a net margin of 14.97%. On average, equities analysts expect that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSA Safety Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 1.11%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. MSA Safety’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.