MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) Short Interest Update

MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 417,200 shares, a growth of 21.1% from the February 13th total of 344,600 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 169,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Jonathan D. Buck sold 717 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.00, for a total value of $114,003.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $584,007. This represents a 16.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSA. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of MSA Safety during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $737,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in MSA Safety by 33.4% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 87,454 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,509,000 after buying an additional 21,902 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV bought a new stake in MSA Safety in the third quarter worth $1,011,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its position in MSA Safety by 0.3% in the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 21,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,771,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in MSA Safety by 3.4% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 9,245 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,640,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSA shares. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of MSA Safety in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $195.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of MSA Safety from $190.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of MSA Safety in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “hold” rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.00.

MSA Safety Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MSA opened at $151.73 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The firm has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.04 and a beta of 0.99. MSA Safety has a 1 year low of $148.59 and a 1 year high of $200.61. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.14.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.02. MSA Safety had a return on equity of 28.64% and a net margin of 15.76%. On average, equities analysts expect that MSA Safety will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSA Safety Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. MSA Safety’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.29%.

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.