MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) declared a dividend payable on September 10, 2021 to its shareholders as of August 3, 2021. It was also announced that shareholders of MSA Safety's stock as of August 16, 2021 are entitled to the dividend. The stock is expected to become ex-dividend 1 business day(s) before the record date. The ex-dividend date for MSA Safety will be on August 13, 2021. The company's current dividend payout is at $0.44. That equates to a dividend yield of 1.09% at current price levels.

Ex-dividend dates are when company shares stop trading with their current dividend payouts in preparation for those companies to announce new ones. Usually, a company's ex-dividend date falls one business day before its record date. Investors should keep this in mind when purchasing stocks because buying them on or after ex-dividend dates does not qualify them to receive the declared payment. Newly declared dividends go to shareholders who have owned that stock before the ex-dividend date. Most ex-dividend dates operate on a quarterly basis.

Over the past year, MSA Safety has experienced an overall upward trend regarding its dividend payouts and a downward trend regarding its yields. Last year on August 14, 2020 the company's payout was $0.43, which has since grown by $0.01. MSA Safety's dividend yield last year was 1.42%, which has since decreased by 0.33%.
Companies use dividend yields in different strategic ways. Some companies may opt to not give yields altogether to reinvest in themselves. Other companies may opt to increase or decrease their yield amounts to control how their shares circulate throughout the stock market.