11,700 Shares in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. $MSM Purchased by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 11,700 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,392,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSM. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 89.9% during the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 245 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 3.9% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,112 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 628 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Boothbay Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 2,389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 0.4% in the third quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 34,884 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,169,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 target price on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research lowered MSC Industrial Direct from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Wall Street Zen raised MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage on MSC Industrial Direct in a research note on Monday, July 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $155.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.43.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE MSM opened at $120.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $78.80 and a 52 week high of $130.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.73 billion, a PE ratio of 29.09 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $122.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $109.26.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 17.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSC Industrial Direct Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 8th. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio is currently 84.06%.

MSC Industrial Direct Company Profile

MSC Industrial Direct Co, Inc (NYSE: MSM) is a distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) supplies. The company serves industrial and institutional customers by helping them source the products, services and expertise needed to operate and maintain manufacturing facilities, equipment and workplaces.

Its product offerings include cutting tools, abrasives, fasteners, hand and power tools, safety equipment, material-handling products, janitorial supplies, plumbing and electrical items, and other industrial consumables.