Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 13,300 MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. $MSM

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 13,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,227,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 12,181.8% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 3,254,670 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $273,718,000 after purchasing an additional 3,228,170 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in MSC Industrial Direct by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,796,316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $151,070,000 after purchasing an additional 187,440 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in MSC Industrial Direct by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,764,875 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $162,605,000 after purchasing an additional 36,626 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,342,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $112,951,000 after buying an additional 20,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,258,793 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $105,864,000 after buying an additional 12,138 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp increased their price target on MSC Industrial Direct from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings raised MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 price target on MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.17.

MSC Industrial Direct Stock Performance

NYSE MSM opened at $123.06 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a PE ratio of 29.72 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.55. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $78.80 and a 52-week high of $127.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $111.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.29.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last released its 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. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 17.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. will post 4.46 EPS for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. MSC Industrial Direct’s payout ratio is 93.55%.

MSC Industrial Direct Company Profile

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.