MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.87

MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 14th will be given a dividend of 0.87 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, January 28th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 14th.

MSC Industrial Direct has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.2%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. MSC Industrial Direct has a payout ratio of 89.0% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Analysts expect MSC Industrial Direct to earn $4.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 85.9%.

MSC Industrial Direct Price Performance

Shares of MSM opened at $86.25 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average is $86.19 and its 200 day moving average is $87.20. MSC Industrial Direct has a 12-month low of $68.10 and a 12-month high of $94.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.06. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 15.21% and a net margin of 5.29%.The company had revenue of $978.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $964.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. MSC Industrial Direct’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MSC Industrial Direct will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Wolfe Research lowered MSC Industrial Direct from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded MSC Industrial Direct from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSC Industrial Direct currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.50.

MSC Industrial Direct Company 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.