MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) Receives $83.80 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $83.80.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSM shares. Stephens downgraded MSC Industrial Direct from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on MSC Industrial Direct in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of MSM opened at $77.50 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.52. The company has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. MSC Industrial Direct has a twelve month low of $72.79 and a twelve month high of $100.35.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The industrial products company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $928.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $904.90 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 6.21% and a return on equity of 17.80%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that MSC Industrial Direct will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.39%. MSC Industrial Direct’s payout ratio is currently 81.15%.

Institutional Trading of MSC Industrial Direct

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in MSC Industrial Direct during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 53.0% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 412.0% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 342 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 54.0% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 476 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in MSC Industrial Direct in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.