Meritage Portfolio Management Raises Stock Position in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM)

Meritage Portfolio Management increased its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 40.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,097 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,088 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management owned approximately 0.07% of MSC Industrial Direct worth $4,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. purchased a new stake in MSC Industrial Direct in the 4th quarter valued at about $77,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in MSC Industrial Direct in the 3rd quarter valued at about $93,000. Finally, USA Financial Formulas boosted its position in MSC Industrial Direct by 5,345.0% in 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 period. 79.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSC Industrial Direct

In other news, Director Mitchell Jacobson sold 137,716 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.66, for a total value of $13,449,344.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,708,311 shares in the company, valued at $166,833,652.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 180,963 shares of company stock valued at $17,712,711 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 18.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.00.

MSC Industrial Direct Price Performance

MSM traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $93.23. 244,211 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 480,331. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $5.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77 and a beta of 0.95. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.14 and a 52-week high of $105.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.94.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $935.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $946.55 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 7.89% and a return on equity of 22.58%. The company’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. will post 5.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSC Industrial Direct Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 8th. MSC Industrial Direct’s payout ratio is 59.61%.

About MSC Industrial Direct

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.