Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $1.23 Million Investment in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. $MSM

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 13,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,227,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 15.5% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,655 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 1st quarter worth about $233,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct during the 4th quarter worth about $1,481,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 146.2% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 19,407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,635,000 after buying an additional 11,523 shares during the period. Finally, Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 12,181.8% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 3,254,670 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $273,718,000 after buying an additional 3,228,170 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MSM shares. Wall Street Zen raised MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 price objective on MSC Industrial Direct in a research note on Wednesday. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on MSC Industrial Direct from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp upped their target price on MSC Industrial Direct from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.17.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE:MSM opened at $123.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $111.18 and a 200-day moving average of $97.29. The company has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a PE ratio of 29.72 and a beta of 0.83. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has a one year low of $78.80 and a one year high of $127.51.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 17.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. will post 4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSC Industrial Direct Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio is 93.55%.

MSC Industrial Direct 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.