MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eight research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $123.4286.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSM shares. Zacks Research cut MSC Industrial Direct from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, September 11th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct in the second quarter worth about $234,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 16.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 57,721 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,866,000 after buying an additional 8,002 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in MSC Industrial Direct by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,463,620 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,098,000 after acquiring an additional 52,860 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in MSC Industrial Direct by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 33,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in MSC Industrial Direct by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,834 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,307 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

MSC Industrial Direct Stock Performance

Shares of MSM stock opened at $124.13 on Friday. MSC Industrial Direct has a one year low of $78.80 and a one year high of $130.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.55. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $121.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.98 and a beta of 0.83.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.43 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 17.34%. MSC Industrial Direct’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MSC Industrial Direct will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

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.