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Stock Plans
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2025
Share-Based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]  
Stock Plans Stock Plans
The 2023 Management Equity Incentive Plan and its predecessor, the 2016 Management Equity Incentive Plan, provide for various forms of stock-based compensation for eligible employees through, in the case of the 2023 Management Equity Incentive Plan, May 2033, including stock options, restricted stock awards, restricted stock units and performance stock units. The 2024 Non-Employee Directors' Equity Incentive Plan and its predecessor, the 2017 Non-Employee Directors’ Equity Incentive Plan provides for grants of stock options and restricted stock to non-employee directors through, in the case of the 2024 Non-Employee Directors' Equity Incentive Plan, May 2034. Stock options are granted at market prices and expire after ten years. The 2014 MSA Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) permits eligible employees to purchase the Company's shares of common stock at a 15% discount from fair market value, semi-annually, from the stock market. The ESPP plan is considered a compensatory plan. The discount is recorded as a component of selling, general and administrative expense in the Company's Consolidated Statements of Operations. As of December 31, 2025, there were 1,612,699; 79,844; and 53,126 shares, respectively, reserved for future grants under the management and non-employee directors’ equity incentive and employee stock purchase plans.
Stock options are exercisable beginning three years after the grant date. Restricted stock and restricted stock units are granted without payment to the Company and generally vest three years after the grant date. Restricted stock and restricted stock units are valued at the market value of the stock on the grant date. Performance stock units with a market condition are valued at an estimated fair value using a Monte Carlo simulation model. The final number of shares to be issued for performance stock units may range from zero to 240% of the target award based on achieving the specified performance targets over the performance period and further range based upon the achieved market metric over the performance period. In general, unvested stock options, restricted stock and performance stock units are forfeited if the participant’s employment with the Company terminates for any reason other than retirement, death or disability. We issue Treasury shares for stock option exercises and grants of restricted stock and performance stock. Please refer to Note 8—Capital Stock for further information regarding stock compensation share issuance.
Stock-based compensation expense was as follows:
(In thousands)202520242023
Restricted stock units$9,979 $11,239 $8,062 
Performance stock units4,862 6,760 21,961 
Employee stock purchase program356 186 — 
Total stock-compensation expense before income taxes15,197 18,185 30,023 
Income tax benefit3,632 4,492 7,356 
Total stock-compensation expense, net of income tax benefit$11,565 $13,693 $22,667 
We did not capitalize any stock-based compensation expense, and all expense is included in Selling, general and administrative expense in the Consolidated Statements of Income.
A summary of option activity follows:
SharesWeighted
Average
Exercise Price		Exercisable at
Year-end
Outstanding January 1, 202358,156 $46.48 
Exercised(31,394)46.90 
Forfeited(226)49.44 
Outstanding December 31, 202326,536 45.95 26,536 
Exercised(10,666)46.93 
Forfeited(852)48.65 
Outstanding December 31, 202415,018 45.10 15,018 
Exercised(12,776)44.53 
Forfeited(25)54.29 
Outstanding December 31, 20252,217 $48.30 2,217 
For various exercise price ranges, characteristics of outstanding and exercisable stock options at December 31, 2025, were as follows:
Stock Options Outstanding and Exercisable
Range of Exercise PricesSharesWeighted-Average
Exercise PriceRemaining Life
$33.01 – $45.00
500 $44.50 0.08
$45.01 – $57.93
1,717 49.41 2.01
$33.01 – $57.93
2,217 $48.30 1.58
Cash received from the exercise of stock options was $0.6 million, $0.5 million and $1.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The tax benefit we realized from these exercises was $0.7 million, $0.6 million and $0.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Stock options become exercisable when they are vested. The aggregate intrinsic value of stock options exercisable and outstanding at December 31, 2025 was $0.2 million.
Restricted stock awards and restricted stock units are valued at the market value of the stock on the grant date. A summary of restricted stock unit activity follows:
SharesWeighted Average
Grant Date
Fair Value
Unvested January 1, 2023145,886 $137.36 
Granted81,150 142.92 
Vested(43,107)126.27 
Forfeited(10,078)140.28 
Unvested at December 31, 2023173,851 142.73 
Granted84,282 178.50 
Vested(50,840)163.66 
Forfeited(27,709)163.49 
Unvested at December 31, 2024179,584 150.39 
Granted73,130 160.33 
Vested(69,704)138.75 
Forfeited(14,623)152.04 
Unvested at December 31, 2025168,387 $159.38 
A summary of performance stock unit activity follows:
SharesWeighted Average
Grant Date
Fair Value
Unvested at January 1, 2023178,760 $146.28 
Granted77,654 132.39 
Vested(53,407)127.36 
Performance adjustments(3,009)127.40 
Forfeited(10,777)147.06 
Unvested at December 31, 2023189,221 146.17 
Granted40,787 177.34 
Vested(77,544)174.13 
Performance adjustments20,488 194.10 
Forfeited(10,956)149.16 
Unvested at December 31, 2024161,996 146.50 
Granted63,964 162.61 
Vested(118,605)143.47 
Performance adjustments64,457 143.49 
Forfeited(20,260)156.89 
Unvested at December 31, 2025151,552 $153.00 
The 2025 performance adjustments above relate primarily to 2022 performance unit awards which vested in the first quarter of 2025 at 220% of the target award based on both cumulative performance against EBITDA margin and revenue growth targets and MSA's TSR during the three-year performance period.
During the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, the total intrinsic value of stock options exercised (the difference between the market price on the date of exercise and the option price paid to exercise the option) was $1.4 million, $1.5 million and $3.7 million, respectively. The fair values of restricted stock vested during the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023 were $9.7 million, $8.3 million and $5.4 million, respectively. The fair value of performance stock units vested during the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023 was $17.0 million, $13.5 million and $6.8 million, respectively.
On December 31, 2025, there was $17.3 million of unrecognized stock-based compensation expense. The weighted average period over which this expense is expected to be recognized was approximately 1.5 years.