Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. Raises Position in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. $MSM

Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 381,610 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 5,526 shares during the quarter. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in MSC Industrial Direct were worth $32,093,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 71.7% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 503 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 42.4% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $145.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.00.

MSC Industrial Direct Stock Up 2.9%

MSM stock opened at $117.49 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.58 and a beta of 0.84. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $78.80 and a 52 week high of $119.13. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $105.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $917.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $931.69 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 16.06% and a net margin of 5.42%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSC Industrial Direct Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. MSC Industrial Direct’s payout ratio is currently 93.55%.

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.