New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $27.33 Million Stock Holdings in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) by 2.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 154,124 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 3,749 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in MSA Safety were worth $27,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in MSA Safety by 198.8% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 245 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of MSA Safety by 486.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 252 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Allegheny Financial Group LTD bought a new position in MSA Safety during the first quarter worth $203,000. Kowal Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in MSA Safety in the second quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in MSA Safety during the second quarter valued at $206,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSA. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on MSA Safety from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. William Blair upgraded MSA Safety to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th.

MSA Safety Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE MSA opened at $163.63 on Monday. MSA Safety Incorporated has a 12-month low of $157.11 and a 12-month high of $200.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $6.43 billion, a PE ratio of 23.65 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $174.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.95.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.05. MSA Safety had a return on equity of 29.14% and a net margin of 15.16%. The company had revenue of $432.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $449.95 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSA Safety Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSA Safety’s payout ratio is 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.