Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 500 Shares of MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its position in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 3.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in MSC Industrial Direct were worth $1,067,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSM. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 57.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 1.7% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,609 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 442.1% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 309 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 121.1% during the 3rd quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 261.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 387 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

MSC Industrial Direct Stock Up 2.1 %

MSM stock opened at $80.70 on Friday. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.05 and a fifty-two week high of $104.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.62 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $81.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.94.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $952.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $959.74 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 6.77%. MSC Industrial Direct’s revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.64 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. will post 3.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.21%. This is an increase from MSC Industrial Direct’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. MSC Industrial Direct’s payout ratio is presently 72.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on MSM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $87.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.20.

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.