MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $107.00.

Several research firms recently commented on MSM. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research report on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 10th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mitchell Jacobson sold 18,746 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.63, for a total transaction of $1,830,171.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,846,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,227,616.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 232,003 shares of company stock valued at $22,679,413 in the last 90 days. 18.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSC Industrial Direct

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in MSC Industrial Direct in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in MSC Industrial Direct during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 168.8% during the third quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 516 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

MSC Industrial Direct Stock Performance

NYSE:MSM opened at $91.46 on Friday. MSC Industrial Direct has a fifty-two week low of $88.14 and a fifty-two week high of $105.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.06. The stock has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42 and a beta of 0.95.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.02. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 7.89% and a return on equity of 22.58%. The business had revenue of $935.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $946.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that MSC Industrial Direct will post 5.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSC Industrial Direct Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 8th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.61%.

About MSC Industrial Direct

MSC Industrial Direct Co, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, distributes metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products and services in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company's MRO products include cutting tools, measuring instruments, tooling components, metalworking products, fasteners, flat stock products, raw materials, abrasives, machinery hand and power tools, safety and janitorial supplies, plumbing supplies, materials handling products, power transmission components, and electrical supplies.