MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. $MSM Shares Purchased by Brandes Investment Partners LP

Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 283,076 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,503 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned 0.51% of MSC Industrial Direct worth $24,067,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSM. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 2.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,743,021 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $318,232,000 after purchasing an additional 92,800 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 5.2% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,781,503 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $138,369,000 after buying an additional 88,247 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 22.9% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,762,248 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $136,867,000 after buying an additional 327,833 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,240,418 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,343,000 after acquiring an additional 33,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,089,926 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,655,000 after acquiring an additional 126,765 shares during the period. 79.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSC Industrial Direct Price Performance

MSM opened at $86.16 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $87.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.95. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $68.10 and a 12-month high of $94.31. The firm has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.20 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $978.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $964.03 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 15.21% and a net margin of 5.29%.MSC Industrial Direct’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is a boost from MSC Industrial Direct’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 97.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on MSC Industrial Direct from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut MSC Industrial Direct from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.50.

Insider Activity at MSC Industrial Direct

In other MSC Industrial Direct news, Director Philip Peller purchased 6,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $90.14 per share, for a total transaction of $600,873.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $859,665.18. The trade was a 232.18% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mitchell Jacobson acquired 95,779 shares of MSC Industrial Direct stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $84.92 per share, for a total transaction of $8,133,552.68. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 2,219,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,462,531.40. This represents a 4.51% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders acquired a total of 211,342 shares of company stock valued at $17,951,965 in the last three months. 18.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.