Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Purchases 482 Shares of MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,778 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 482 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in MSC Industrial Direct were worth $1,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSM. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. purchased a new stake in MSC Industrial Direct during the fourth quarter valued at about $77,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in MSC Industrial Direct during the third quarter worth about $93,000. USA Financial Formulas boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at MSC Industrial Direct

In related news, Director Mitchell Jacobson sold 18,746 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.63, for a total value of $1,830,171.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,846,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,227,616.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 180,963 shares of company stock worth $17,712,711. 18.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSM. KeyCorp dropped their target price on MSC Industrial Direct from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research 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 research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.00.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MSC Industrial Direct stock traded down $0.33 on Wednesday, hitting $92.93. The stock had a trading volume of 100,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 479,891. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $97.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.94. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. has a one year low of $88.14 and a one year high of $105.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67 and a beta of 0.95.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $935.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. will post 5.69 EPS for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th were issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 8th. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.61%.

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.