Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Boosts Holdings in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its position in shares of MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 35,142 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 2,802 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp owned about 0.09% of MSA Safety worth $6,596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new stake in MSA Safety in the fourth quarter valued at $69,067,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MSA Safety in the 4th quarter valued at about $68,252,000. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. acquired a new position in MSA Safety in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,771,000. Cooke & Bieler LP purchased a new position in MSA Safety during the second quarter worth about $60,236,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of MSA Safety by 1,601.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 312,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $60,443,000 after acquiring an additional 293,872 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at MSA Safety

In related news, CEO Nishan J. Vartanian sold 3,945 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.00, for a total value of $745,605.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 31,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,039,117. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

MSA Safety Price Performance

Shares of MSA opened at $171.23 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $6.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.37 and a beta of 0.99. MSA Safety Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $147.35 and a fifty-two week 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’s 50 day moving average price is $182.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.72.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $462.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $461.30 million. MSA Safety had a return on equity of 30.64% and a net margin of 14.97%. On average, research analysts forecast that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSA Safety Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.