Janus Henderson Group PLC Increases Stock Holdings in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) by 1,601.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 312,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 293,872 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 0.79% of MSA Safety worth $60,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSA. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSA Safety by 51.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 183 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new stake in MSA Safety during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in MSA Safety by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 336 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in MSA Safety by 50.7% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in MSA Safety during the 4th quarter valued at $142,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSA. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on MSA Safety from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. William Blair raised MSA Safety to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $192.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSA Safety

In other MSA Safety news, CEO Nishan J. Vartanian sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.29, for a total transaction of $2,038,190.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 56,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,524,472. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

MSA Safety Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MSA traded down $1.08 on Tuesday, reaching $187.42. The company had a trading volume of 94,630 shares, compared to its average volume of 152,709. MSA Safety Incorporated has a 52-week low of $147.35 and a 52-week high of $200.60. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $183.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.93 and a beta of 0.99.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.14. MSA Safety had a return on equity of 30.64% and a net margin of 14.97%. The firm had revenue of $413.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $428.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSA Safety Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. This is an increase from MSA Safety’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. MSA Safety’s payout ratio is 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.