Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Acquires New Stake in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new position in shares of MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 2,241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 78.4% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 182 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 120.6% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 225 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 97.6% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 81.3% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in MSA Safety by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 869 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSA. StockNews.com raised MSA Safety from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 10th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price objective (down from $200.00) on shares of MSA Safety in a report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on MSA Safety from $188.00 to $183.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $166.00 price objective on MSA Safety in a report on Monday, May 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MSA Safety currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.80.

MSA Safety Stock Performance

MSA Safety stock opened at $158.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 2.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $149.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $160.82. The company has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.03 and a beta of 0.96. MSA Safety Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $127.86 and a fifty-two week high of $200.61.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $421.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $402.60 million. MSA Safety had a return on equity of 28.64% and a net margin of 15.76%. MSA Safety’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.61 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 8.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSA Safety Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. This is an increase from MSA Safety’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. MSA Safety’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Jonathan D. Buck sold 717 shares of MSA Safety stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 owns 3,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $584,007. The trade was a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Nishan J. Vartanian sold 30,000 shares of MSA Safety stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.32, for a total value of $4,839,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 35,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,710,889.32. This represents a 45.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.