Captrust Financial Advisors Decreases Stake in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM)

Captrust Financial Advisors lessened its stake in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 63.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,324 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 15,910 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in MSC Industrial Direct were worth $696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSM. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 36.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 25,490 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,195,000 after acquiring an additional 6,864 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in MSC Industrial Direct in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,654,000. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 55,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,142,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 54.0% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 476 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Red Spruce Capital LLC boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 21,677 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,619,000 after acquiring an additional 2,392 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSM shares. Wolfe Research upgraded MSC Industrial Direct to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, April 6th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on MSC Industrial Direct from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their target price on MSC Industrial Direct from $83.00 to $74.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.20.

Insider Activity

In other MSC Industrial Direct news, Director Mitchell Jacobson acquired 27,642 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $69.77 per share, for a total transaction of $1,928,582.34. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,951,725 shares in the company, valued at $136,171,853.25. The trade was a 1.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 18.30% of the company’s stock.

MSC Industrial Direct Stock Performance

MSC Industrial Direct stock opened at $81.56 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $76.84 and a 200-day moving average of $79.90. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.10 and a 52 week high of $92.77.

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

MSC Industrial Direct Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th were given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. MSC Industrial Direct’s payout ratio is currently 89.71%.

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.