MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) Position Boosted by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management raised its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 40.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,097 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,088 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in MSC Industrial Direct were worth $4,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSM. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 4th quarter valued at about $77,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 3rd quarter valued at about $93,000. Finally, USA Financial Formulas lifted its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 5,345.0% during the 3rd quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 1,089 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSM has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp reduced their price target on MSC Industrial Direct from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered MSC Industrial Direct from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSC Industrial Direct currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.00.

MSC Industrial Direct Stock Performance

MSM traded down $0.19 on Thursday, hitting $93.23. The company had a trading volume of 244,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 480,331. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.14 and a 1-year high of $105.77. The stock has a market cap of $5.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $97.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.02. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 22.58% and a net margin of 7.89%. The company had revenue of $935.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $946.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. will post 5.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSC Industrial Direct Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 8th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.61%.

Insider Transactions at MSC Industrial Direct

In other news, Director Mitchell Jacobson sold 18,746 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.63, for a total transaction of $1,830,171.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,846,027 shares in the company, valued at $180,227,616.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 180,963 shares of company stock worth $17,712,711 over the last three months. 18.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSC Industrial Direct 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.