MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) Upgraded at B. Riley

B. Riley upgraded shares of MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Monday, Zacks.com reports.

MSA has been the subject of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of MSA Safety from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. William Blair raised shares of MSA Safety to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSA Safety has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus price target of $207.50.

MSA Safety Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE MSA opened at $173.66 on Monday. MSA Safety has a 1 year low of $157.34 and a 1 year high of $200.60. The stock has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.10 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $173.50 and a 200 day moving average of $180.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 1.56.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $432.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $449.95 million. MSA Safety had a net margin of 15.16% and a return on equity of 29.14%. MSA Safety’s revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSA Safety will post 7.75 EPS 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. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. MSA Safety’s dividend payout ratio is 29.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSA Safety

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in MSA Safety by 198.8% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 245 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in MSA Safety by 486.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 252 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in MSA Safety by 985.1% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 803 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. Allegheny Financial Group LTD purchased a new stake in MSA Safety during the first quarter valued at $203,000. Finally, Kowal Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSA Safety during the second quarter valued at $204,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.