MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) Hits New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) shares reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $159.94 and last traded at $161.11, with a volume of 22545 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $162.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of MSA Safety in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “hold” rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. DA Davidson started coverage on MSA Safety in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $195.00 price target for the company. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on MSA Safety in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $202.50.

MSA Safety Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.12 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 2.68.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.05. MSA Safety had a net margin of 15.16% and a return on equity of 29.14%. The company had revenue of $432.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $449.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. MSA Safety’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSA Safety Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. MSA Safety’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.48%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in MSA Safety by 2.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,691,319 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $299,939,000 after purchasing an additional 40,569 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 27.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 781,705 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $138,658,000 after buying an additional 169,168 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in MSA Safety by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 738,951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $138,695,000 after buying an additional 22,979 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in MSA Safety by 43.5% in the third quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 440,316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $78,086,000 after buying an additional 133,373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in MSA Safety by 6.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 418,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $74,170,000 after buying an additional 26,835 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.