New York State Common Retirement Fund Raises Position in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 154,124 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,749 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.39% of MSA Safety worth $27,332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in MSA Safety by 3.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 770,641 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $144,642,000 after acquiring an additional 22,366 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of 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. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in MSA Safety by 12.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 718,969 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $139,186,000 after buying an additional 77,960 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in MSA Safety by 7.6% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 707,534 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $136,972,000 after buying an additional 49,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP bought a new stake in MSA Safety in the second quarter worth about $60,236,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MSA. William Blair raised shares of MSA Safety to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on MSA Safety from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

MSA Safety Stock Performance

Shares of MSA traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $164.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 148,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 153,068. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.95. MSA Safety Incorporated has a 52-week low of $157.34 and a 52-week high of $200.60. 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 company has a market cap of $6.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.70 and a beta of 0.99.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $432.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $449.95 million. MSA Safety had a return on equity of 29.14% and a net margin of 15.16%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSA Safety Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSA Safety's payout ratio is presently 29.48%.

About MSA Safety

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.