First Trust Advisors LP Has $163.61 Million Stock Position in MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. $MSM

First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 20.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,773,133 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 306,436 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in MSC Industrial Direct were worth $163,607,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Corp boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 101.0% in the first quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its position in MSC Industrial Direct by 71.7% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 503 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 42.4% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in MSC Industrial Direct during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 130.4% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 576 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSM. KeyCorp upped their price target on MSC Industrial Direct from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Zacks Research raised MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen raised MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 price target on MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.43.

MSC Industrial Direct Stock Up 0.6%

MSC Industrial Direct stock opened at $127.18 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.72. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $78.80 and a fifty-two week high of $127.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $116.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.76. The firm has a market cap of $7.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72 and a beta of 0.83.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 17.34% and a net margin of 5.91%.The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.06%.

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.