MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $83.80.

Several brokerages have commented on MSM. Stephens downgraded shares of MSC Industrial Direct from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 8,289.7% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,031 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,466,000 after buying an additional 16,828 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 36.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 25,490 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,195,000 after purchasing an additional 6,864 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 36.4% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 23,114 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,989,000 after purchasing an additional 6,172 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 398.1% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 15,860 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 12,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 892.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 695 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Down 2.8 %

MSM opened at $80.68 on Tuesday. MSC Industrial Direct has a fifty-two week low of $72.79 and a fifty-two week high of $104.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.26 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.81.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The industrial products company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.13. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 6.21% and a return on equity of 17.80%. The firm had revenue of $928.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $904.90 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSC Industrial Direct will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.15%.

MSC Industrial Direct Company Profile

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.