Robert W. Baird Lowers MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) Price Target to $84.00

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Robert W. Baird from $95.00 to $84.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 10.76% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also commented on MSM. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research note on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com downgraded MSC Industrial Direct from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 8th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded MSC Industrial Direct from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.80.

MSC Industrial Direct Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSM opened at $75.84 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a PE ratio of 13.62 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50-day moving average of $89.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.47. MSC Industrial Direct has a 12 month low of $75.55 and a 12 month high of $105.77.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $935.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $946.55 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 22.58% and a net margin of 7.89%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that MSC Industrial Direct will post 5.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 42,097 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,263,000 after purchasing an additional 12,088 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new position in MSC Industrial Direct in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,668,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in MSC Industrial Direct in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,316,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 775,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $78,476,000 after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in MSC Industrial Direct in the fourth quarter valued at about $56,088,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

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.