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MSA Safety's (MSA) Board Okays 2.4% Hike in Dividend Rate

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MSA Safety Incorporated (MSA - Free Report) yesterday announced that it is rewarding its common shareholders with a hike in the quarterly dividend rate. Concurrently, the company declared a dividend on its preferred stocks.

We believe that such shareholder-friendly policies underline the company’s strong cash position and commitment toward returning high value to its shareholders.

Inside the Headlines

As announced, MSA Safety’s board of directors approved a hike of 2.4% or 1 cent per share in the quarterly dividend rate, which now moved up from 42 cents to 43 cents. On an annualized basis, the dividend increased to $1.72 per share from $1.68.

MSA Safety will pay the revised quarterly dividend on Jun 10, 2020, to its shareholders of record as of May 22.

In addition to the common-stock dividend, the company’s board of directors approved a dividend payment of 56.25 cents per share on preferred stocks. The disbursement will be made on Jun 1 to the holders of preferred stock of record as of May 22.

The company noted that using its capital resources for dividend payments, growth investments, productivity programs and share buybacks remain its priorities, even in the difficult environment caused by the pandemic.

Sound Shareholder-Friendly Policies

The company firmly believes in rewarding its common shareholders handsomely through dividend payments. Its cash dividend payout increased from $1.38 per share in 2017 to $1.64 in 2019. It paid out a cash dividend of $16.3 million to its shareholders in the first quarter of 2020, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 11.5%.

Additionally, the company repurchases shares to reward its shareholders. In the first quarter of 2020, it bought back shares worth $27.7 million as compared with $7.4 million in the year-ago quarter.

Zacks Rank, Earnings Projections and Price Performance

With a market capitalization of $4.7 billion, MSA Safety currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). In the past three months, the company’s stock price has decreased 16% compared with the industry’s decline of 23.8%.



In the past 30 days, earnings estimates for MSA Safety have declined by 9.9% to $4.48 for 2020 and 8.9% to $4.99 for 2021. On a year-over-year basis, estimates suggest a decline of 6.7% for 2020 and growth of 11.5% for 2021.

MSA Safety Incorporporated Price and Consensus

 

MSA Safety Incorporporated Price and Consensus

MSA Safety Incorporporated price-consensus-chart | MSA Safety Incorporporated Quote

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the industry are Wrap Technologies, Inc. , Intellicheck, Inc. (IDN - Free Report) and Lakeland Industries, Inc. (LAKE - Free Report) . While Wrap Technologies currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), both Intellicheck and Lakeland carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Positive earnings surprise for the last four quarters, on average, was 10% for Wrap Technologies, 70.24% for Intellicheck and 475% for Lakeland.

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