AE Wealth Management LLC Invests $475,000 in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $475,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSA. APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new stake in MSA Safety in the 4th quarter valued at about $69,067,000. Cooke & Bieler LP purchased a new stake in shares of MSA Safety during the second quarter valued at approximately $60,236,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in 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 worth $60,443,000 after acquiring an additional 293,872 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in MSA Safety by 219.8% in the second quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 306,943 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,610,000 after purchasing an additional 210,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in MSA Safety by 41.7% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 293,205 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $49,502,000 after purchasing an additional 86,225 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSA Safety Stock Performance

Shares of MSA opened at $179.52 on Friday. MSA Safety Incorporated has a 1 year low of $147.35 and a 1 year high of $200.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $180.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.37. The firm has a market cap of $7.07 billion, a PE ratio of 26.60 and a beta of 0.99.

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

MSA Safety Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. MSA Safety’s payout ratio is currently 30.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSA Safety news, CEO Nishan J. Vartanian sold 3,945 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.00, for a total transaction of $745,605.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 31,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,039,117. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.