JPMorgan Chase & Co. Grows Position in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. $MSM

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 288,489 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 38,088 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.52% of MSC Industrial Direct worth $26,581,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,214,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 1.6% during the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 12,700 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,170,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in MSC Industrial Direct by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,216 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSM. Robert W. Baird set a $94.00 price objective on MSC Industrial Direct in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Thursday, January 8th. iA Financial set a $95.00 price objective on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.50.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE MSM opened at $93.88 on Friday. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.10 and a 1 year high of $96.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $88.52 and a 200 day moving average of $88.28. The stock has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.65 and a beta of 0.84.

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

MSC Industrial Direct Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 14th were issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 14th. MSC Industrial Direct’s payout ratio is 95.08%.

MSC Industrial Direct 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.