Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Has $12.05 Million Position in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. $MSM

Key Points

• Ceredex Value Advisors cut its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 22.6% in Q3, selling 38,150 shares and finishing the period with 130,750 shares valued at about $12.05 million (≈0.23% of the company).
• Analysts have an overall Hold rating on MSC—nine analysts rate it a Hold with a consensus price target of $90.50, and several recent downgrades from buy/strong-buy to hold were reported.
• MSC beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $0.99 on $965.7M in revenue, and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.87 (annualized $3.48, ~3.9% yield) though its dividend payout ratio is high (~95%).

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM - Free Report) by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 130,750 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 38,150 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.23% of MSC Industrial Direct worth $12,047,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MSM. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 4.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 46,990 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,650,000 after acquiring an additional 2,164 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in MSC Industrial Direct in the first quarter valued at approximately $455,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 79.9% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 750 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 1st quarter worth approximately $229,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 1st quarter worth approximately $816,000. 79.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. iA Financial set a $95.00 price objective on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research lowered shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, MSC Industrial Direct currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $90.50.

MSC Industrial Direct Stock Performance

Shares of MSM stock opened at $90.00 on Wednesday. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.10 and a 52 week high of $96.99. The company has a market capitalization of $5.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.59 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.73.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $965.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $962.52 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 5.37% and a return on equity of 15.73%. The business's revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 14th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. MSC Industrial Direct's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 95.08%.

MSC Industrial Direct Company Profile

MSC Industrial Direct Co, Inc NYSE: MSM is a leading distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products serving a broad range of industrial customers across North America. The company offers an extensive portfolio of cutting tools, abrasives, measuring and inspection instruments, fasteners, safety supplies and other essential components used in manufacturing, metalworking and production environments. MSC delivers products through a multi-channel distribution network, including an extensive branch system, e-commerce platform and dedicated sales force.

In addition to its core product offerings, MSC Industrial Direct provides value-added services designed to improve productivity and reduce downtime for its customers.

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