Stephens Inc. AR Makes New Investment in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. $MSM

Stephens Inc. AR purchased a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 8,956 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $825,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in MSC Industrial Direct during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 130.4% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 576 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 52.2% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 595 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 79.9% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Finally, Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in MSC Industrial Direct during the 2nd quarter worth about $73,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSC Industrial Direct

In other MSC Industrial Direct news, Director Philip Peller purchased 6,666 shares of MSC Industrial Direct stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $90.14 per share, for a total transaction of $600,873.24. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,537 shares in the company, valued at $859,665.18. This trade represents a 232.18% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mitchell Jacobson purchased 22,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $84.96 per share, with a total value of $1,943,035.20. Following the purchase, the director owned 2,328,192 shares in the company, valued at $197,803,192.32. This trade represents a 0.99% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought 211,342 shares of company stock valued at $17,951,965 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 19.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of MSC Industrial Direct from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $94.00 price target on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Thursday, January 8th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.67.

MSC Industrial Direct Price Performance

Shares of MSM opened at $84.74 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 0.82. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.10 and a 1-year high of $94.31. The stock has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a PE ratio of 23.15 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $85.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.65.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.04. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 15.73% and a net margin of 5.37%.The company had revenue of $965.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.52 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 14th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. MSC Industrial Direct’s payout ratio is currently 95.08%.

About MSC Industrial Direct

MSC Industrial Direct Co, Inc (NYSE: MSM) is a leading distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products serving a broad range of industrial customers across North America. The company offers an extensive portfolio of cutting tools, abrasives, measuring and inspection instruments, fasteners, safety supplies and other essential components used in manufacturing, metalworking and production environments. MSC delivers products through a multi-channel distribution network, including an extensive branch system, e-commerce platform and dedicated sales force.

In addition to its core product offerings, MSC Industrial Direct provides value-added services designed to improve productivity and reduce downtime for its customers.