California Public Employees Retirement System Acquires 1,484 Shares of MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM)

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 99,956 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,484 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in MSC Industrial Direct were worth $10,122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 4.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,817,016 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $472,790,000 after purchasing an additional 197,193 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 462,756 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,420,000 after buying an additional 131,943 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 19.6% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 769,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $75,566,000 after acquiring an additional 125,944 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in MSC Industrial Direct by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 605,437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $61,307,000 after acquiring an additional 113,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 39.1% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 343,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,755,000 after acquiring an additional 96,700 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports 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 cut shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.00.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MSM opened at $90.96 on Thursday. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.77 and a 12-month high of $105.77. The company has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a PE ratio of 16.40 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $96.39 and a 200 day moving average of $97.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $935.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. will post 5.69 EPS for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 8th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.