Norges Bank Acquires New Stake in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM)

Norges Bank bought a new position in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 465,062 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,735,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,053,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 21,594 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,613,000 after acquiring an additional 3,008 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct in the 4th quarter worth $680,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in MSC Industrial Direct by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 246,741 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,429,000 after purchasing an additional 17,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,418,260 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $255,310,000 after purchasing an additional 193,860 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on MSM shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on MSC Industrial Direct from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $83.00 to $74.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSC Industrial Direct currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.20.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Down 5.3 %

MSM stock opened at $71.19 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 0.91. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.13 and a 1-year high of $95.88. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.35.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $891.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $908.30 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 6.21% and a return on equity of 17.80%. MSC Industrial Direct’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSC Industrial Direct Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.78%. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.15%.

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.