Royce & Associates LP Has $35.39 Million Stock Holdings in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. $MSM

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 8% in the fourth quarter, ending with 420,750 shares valued at about $35.4 million.
• Other institutional investors also boosted their holdings, and institutional ownership now stands at 79.26% of the company’s shares.
• Analysts are mixed on MSM: the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” with a consensus price target of $94.29, while the shares recently traded at $106.71 after the company reported earnings and continued paying a quarterly dividend of $0.87 per share.

Royce & Associates LP increased its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM - Free Report) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 420,750 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 31,260 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.75% of MSC Industrial Direct worth $35,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MSM. SG Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 867.0% during the third quarter. SG Capital Management LLC now owns 360,988 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $33,261,000 after buying an additional 323,659 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 110.7% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 479,244 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $44,158,000 after buying an additional 251,759 shares during the last quarter. Concentric Capital Strategies LP boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 303.6% during the third quarter. Concentric Capital Strategies LP now owns 204,974 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $18,886,000 after buying an additional 154,192 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 116.2% during the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 269,210 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $22,888,000 after buying an additional 144,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 124.2% during the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 195,176 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $17,984,000 after buying an additional 108,116 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSM shares. iA Financial set a $95.00 target price on MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen cut MSC Industrial Direct from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Monday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "neutral" rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded MSC Industrial Direct from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $117.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $94.29.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE MSM opened at $106.71 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.68 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock's 50-day moving average is $97.23 and its 200-day moving average is $91.26. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has a one year low of $77.78 and a one year high of $108.77.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $917.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $931.69 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 16.06% and a net margin of 5.42%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSC Industrial Direct Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 8th were given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 8th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. MSC Industrial Direct's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.55%.

About MSC Industrial Direct

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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