MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. $MSM Shares Acquired by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 15.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 91,629 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,130 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.16% of MSC Industrial Direct worth $7,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSM. Vident Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in MSC Industrial Direct in the first quarter worth about $251,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 267.1% during the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 87,060 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,402,000 after acquiring an additional 63,347 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 116,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,940,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 70,865 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,504,000 after purchasing an additional 5,644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Praxis Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in MSC Industrial Direct in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $451,000. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSM. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Zacks Research raised shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered MSC Industrial Direct from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 9th. Wolfe Research lowered MSC Industrial Direct from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on MSC Industrial Direct from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Philip Peller acquired 6,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $90.14 per share, for a total transaction of $600,873.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $859,665.18. The trade was a 232.18% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mitchell Jacobson bought 22,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $84.96 per share, for a total transaction of $1,943,035.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,328,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $197,803,192.32. This trade represents a 0.99% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have purchased 211,342 shares of company stock worth $17,951,965 over the last three months. 18.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSC Industrial Direct Stock Up 1.6%

MSC Industrial Direct stock opened at $88.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82 and a beta of 0.98. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.10 and a 52 week high of $94.31. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $88.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.06. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 15.21% and a net margin of 5.29%.The company had revenue of $978.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $964.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. MSC Industrial Direct’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. This is an increase from MSC Industrial Direct’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.75%.

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.