Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 19,403 Shares of MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) by 4.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 444,639 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 19,403 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 1.13% of MSA Safety worth $83,453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of MSA Safety by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,160 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $702,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of MSA Safety during the 4th quarter worth $303,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 537.3% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 18,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,123,000 after buying an additional 15,597 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in MSA Safety by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 46,280 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,813,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in MSA Safety by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,842 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 1,203 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

MSA Safety Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSA opened at $182.56 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $184.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.91. MSA Safety Incorporated has a twelve month low of $147.35 and a twelve month high of $200.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.19 billion, a PE ratio of 27.05 and a beta of 0.99.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.04. MSA Safety had a net margin of 14.97% and a return on equity of 30.64%. The business had revenue of $462.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $461.30 million. Equities analysts forecast that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

MSA Safety Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. MSA Safety’s payout ratio is 30.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSA Safety news, CEO Nishan J. Vartanian sold 3,945 shares of MSA Safety stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.00, for a total transaction of $745,605.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 can be accessed through this link. 6.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSA. William Blair raised shares of MSA Safety to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on MSA Safety from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

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.