Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Purchases New Holdings in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,234 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $795,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of MSA Safety by 198.8% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 245 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in MSA Safety by 50.7% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 306 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of MSA Safety during the fourth quarter worth $142,000. Allegheny Financial Group LTD acquired a new position in MSA Safety during the 1st quarter worth about $203,000. Finally, Kowal Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in MSA Safety during the 2nd quarter worth about $204,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSA has been the topic of a number of research reports. William Blair upgraded shares of MSA Safety to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on MSA Safety from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 26th.

Insider Activity at MSA Safety

In other MSA Safety news, CEO Nishan J. Vartanian sold 3,945 shares of MSA Safety 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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 6.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSA Safety Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:MSA traded down $2.58 on Friday, hitting $176.98. 104,666 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 152,855. The company's 50-day moving average price is $179.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.29. MSA Safety Incorporated has a 52 week low of $147.35 and a 52 week high of $200.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.22 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.45.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 14.97% and a return on equity of 30.64%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

MSA Safety Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. MSA Safety's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.22%.

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.