Brandes Investment Partners LP Buys 46,728 Shares of MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. $MSM

Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 17.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 319,034 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,728 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in MSC Industrial Direct were worth $26,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 2.1% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,764,875 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $162,605,000 after buying an additional 36,626 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 1.2% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,322,432 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $121,842,000 after purchasing an additional 15,765 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 1.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,246,655 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $114,867,000 after purchasing an additional 19,267 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,055,261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $88,761,000 after purchasing an additional 22,602 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 1.2% during the third quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,014,655 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $93,490,000 after purchasing an additional 11,912 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSM shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research report on Monday, April 27th. KeyCorp raised their price target on MSC Industrial Direct from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.71.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE MSM opened at $117.07 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.47 and a beta of 0.84. 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 $102.52 and its 200-day moving average is $93.27. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has a one year low of $78.80 and a one year high of $119.13.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) 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). MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 16.06% and a net margin of 5.42%.The business had revenue of $917.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $931.69 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSC Industrial Direct Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 8th were given a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 8th. 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.