MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from seven analysts, with five holding this stance and one each for buy and strong buy recommendations.
• The average 1-year target price for MSC Industrial Direct among analysts is $90.33, with various analysts adjusting their target prices recently.
• Insider trading activity saw SVP Kimberly Shacklett selling 2,130 shares for about $196,000, reducing her ownership stake in the company.

MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $90.3333.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stephens lifted their target price on MSC Industrial Direct from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Loop Capital lifted their target price on MSC Industrial Direct from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on MSC Industrial Direct from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered MSC Industrial Direct from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSC Industrial Direct news, SVP Kimberly Shacklett sold 2,130 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.00, for a total transaction of $195,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 14,657 shares in the company, valued at $1,348,444. This represents a 12.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 18.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSC Industrial Direct

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 47.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 681 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 5,956 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 9,078 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $705,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 895.0% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 597 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 1st quarter valued at $897,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company's stock.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Down 0.1%

MSM opened at $91.91 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96 and a beta of 0.95. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $89.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.82. MSC Industrial Direct has a one year low of $68.10 and a one year high of $94.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.92.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $971.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $969.72 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 14.99% and a net margin of 5.30%.MSC Industrial Direct's quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that MSC Industrial Direct will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

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.

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