Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stake in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. $MSM

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 18.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 74,086 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 17,259 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.13% of MSC Industrial Direct worth $6,231,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 257.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 361 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 71.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 503 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 130.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 576 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 25.9% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 628 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 79.9% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on MSM shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research note on Monday, April 27th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSC Industrial Direct has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.71.

MSC Industrial Direct Price Performance

NYSE MSM opened at $115.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $101.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.78. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $78.80 and a 52-week high of $118.52. The company has a market cap of $6.45 billion, a PE ratio of 31.04 and a beta of 0.84.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.02). MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 5.42% and a return on equity of 16.06%. The business had revenue of $917.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $931.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. MSC Industrial Direct’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSC Industrial Direct Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 8th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 8th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.55%.

MSC Industrial Direct Company 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.