MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at B. Riley

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) was upgraded by B. Riley to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. William Blair raised shares of MSA Safety to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on MSA Safety from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and an average target price of $207.50.

MSA Safety Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MSA opened at $167.96 on Monday. MSA Safety has a 52-week low of $157.34 and a 52-week high of $200.60. The stock has a market cap of $6.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $173.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $180.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last announced 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 analyst estimates of $449.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. MSA Safety’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that MSA Safety will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of MSA Safety

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 30.3% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 26,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,151,000 after buying an additional 6,191 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of MSA Safety by 14.4% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,434,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSA Safety by 18.3% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,709 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in shares of MSA Safety by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 32,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,261,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the period. Finally, AIA Group Ltd grew its holdings in shares of MSA Safety by 63.2% in the first quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 18,907 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,660,000 after purchasing an additional 7,324 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.