Janus Henderson Group PLC Buys 293,872 Shares of MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) by 1,601.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 312,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 293,872 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in MSA Safety were worth $60,443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in MSA Safety by 51.2% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 183 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in MSA Safety by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 336 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in MSA Safety by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,522 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,958,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nishan J. Vartanian sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.29, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

MSA Safety Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:MSA traded down $1.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $187.42. The company had a trading volume of 94,630 shares, compared to its average volume of 152,709. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $185.49 and a 200 day moving average of $183.25. The company has a market cap of $7.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.93 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.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.14. The company 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 30.64% and a net margin of 14.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.75 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 issued a $0.51 dividend. This is a boost from MSA Safety’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. MSA Safety’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on MSA Safety from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. William Blair raised MSA Safety to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $192.50.

About MSA Safety

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.