DA Davidson Begins Coverage on MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA)

Investment analysts at DA Davidson started coverage on shares of MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $195.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock. DA Davidson’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 18.57% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on MSA. B. Riley began coverage on MSA Safety in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on MSA Safety in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $202.50.

MSA Safety Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of MSA stock opened at $164.46 on Thursday. MSA Safety has a 12 month low of $160.02 and a 12 month high of $200.60. The company has a market cap of $6.46 billion, a PE ratio of 23.77 and a beta of 0.99. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $172.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.87.

MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $432.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. Equities analysts predict that MSA Safety will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in MSA Safety by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 45,334 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,509,000 after buying an additional 4,497 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSA Safety during the 2nd quarter valued at about $795,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in MSA Safety by 3.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 738,951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $138,695,000 after acquiring an additional 22,979 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in MSA Safety in the second quarter worth about $2,322,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in MSA Safety by 2,362.5% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 11,303 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,119,000 after purchasing an additional 10,844 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.