DA Davidson Begins Coverage on MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA)

DA Davidson started coverage on shares of MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA - Get Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a "buy" rating and a $195.00 price target on the industrial products company's stock. DA Davidson's price target suggests a potential upside of 16.40% from the stock's current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MSA. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on MSA Safety in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. B. Riley began coverage on shares of MSA Safety in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $202.50.

MSA Safety Stock Performance

Shares of MSA traded up $3.06 on Thursday, reaching $167.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 309,238 shares, compared to its average volume of 157,826. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $172.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.21 and a beta of 0.99. MSA Safety has a 12-month low of $160.02 and a 12-month high of $200.60.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.05. MSA Safety had a net margin of 15.16% and a return on equity of 29.14%. The firm had revenue of $432.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $449.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that MSA Safety will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSA Safety

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSA Safety in the second quarter worth $210,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in MSA Safety by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 44,855 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $8,419,000 after buying an additional 2,316 shares in the last quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. bought a new stake in MSA Safety during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,149,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in MSA Safety by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 770,641 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $144,642,000 after buying an additional 22,366 shares during the period. Finally, Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in MSA Safety by 219.8% in the 2nd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 306,943 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $57,610,000 after acquiring an additional 210,968 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.