2,652 Shares in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) Purchased by RiverFront Investment Group LLC

RiverFront Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,652 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $498,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in 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 valued at $5,151,000 after purchasing an additional 6,191 shares during the last quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID lifted its position in shares of MSA Safety by 35.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 32,054 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 80.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of MSA Safety during the first quarter worth $3,625,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on MSA Safety from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report 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 Stock Performance

Shares of MSA stock opened at $171.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.75 and a beta of 0.99. MSA Safety Incorporated has a 1-year low of $147.35 and a 1-year high of $200.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $179.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.23.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last released 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 company had revenue of $462.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 predict that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSA Safety Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. MSA Safety’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nishan J. Vartanian sold 3,945 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 31,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,039,117. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

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.