Ameriprise Financial Inc. Raises Holdings in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA - Free Report) by 17.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 448,082 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 65,037 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 1.14% of MSA Safety worth $74,279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of MSA Safety by 78.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 182 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in MSA Safety by 120.6% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 225 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in MSA Safety by 97.6% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 251 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in MSA Safety by 81.3% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 330 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop National Bank raised its position in MSA Safety by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 520 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSA shares. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $195.00 price target (down from $200.00) on shares of MSA Safety in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird set a $166.00 target price on MSA Safety in a research report on Monday, May 5th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on MSA Safety from $188.00 to $183.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised MSA Safety from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $191.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Jonathan D. Buck sold 717 shares of the 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,673 shares in the company, valued at approximately $584,007. This trade represents a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

MSA Safety Price Performance

MSA stock traded down $0.54 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $161.03. The stock had a trading volume of 271,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 179,902. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 1.76. MSA Safety Incorporated has a twelve month low of $127.86 and a twelve month high of $200.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company's 50-day moving average price is $149.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $160.82.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $421.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 8.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSA Safety Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This is a boost from MSA Safety's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. MSA Safety's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.24%.

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.