Caxton Associates LP Has $1.56 Million Stake in MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA)

Caxton Associates LP raised its stake in shares of MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE:MSA) by 52.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,049 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,780 shares during the quarter. Caxton Associates LP’s holdings in MSA Safety were worth $1,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSA. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in MSA Safety by 51.2% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 183 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSA Safety during the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of MSA Safety by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 336 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of MSA Safety by 50.7% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MSA Safety during the 4th quarter worth about $61,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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 that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.29, for a total value 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSA. Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. William Blair upgraded MSA Safety to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.50.

MSA Safety Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of MSA traded down $1.32 on Tuesday, hitting $187.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,787 shares, compared to its average volume of 152,145. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $185.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $183.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. MSA Safety Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $147.35 and a fifty-two week high of $200.60.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $413.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $428.38 million. MSA Safety had a return on equity of 30.64% and a net margin of 14.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that MSA Safety Incorporated will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

MSA Safety Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a $0.51 dividend. This is a boost from MSA Safety’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. MSA Safety’s payout ratio is presently 30.22%.

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.