MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) – Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group boosted their FY2021 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research report issued on Wednesday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group analyst H. Mazari now forecasts that the industrial products company will post earnings of $4.77 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $4.75. Jefferies Financial Group also issued estimates for MSC Industrial Direct’s Q4 2021 earnings at $1.25 EPS, Q1 2022 earnings at $1.20 EPS, Q2 2022 earnings at $1.15 EPS, Q3 2022 earnings at $1.49 EPS, Q4 2022 earnings at $1.35 EPS, FY2022 earnings at $5.19 EPS, Q1 2023 earnings at $1.34 EPS and FY2023 earnings at $5.77 EPS.
A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on MSM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. TheStreet downgraded shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday. William Blair raised shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of MSC Industrial Direct from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. MSC Industrial Direct presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.00.
NYSE MSM opened at $90.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a PE ratio of 22.33 and a beta of 0.99. MSC Industrial Direct has a 52 week low of $56.16 and a 52 week high of $93.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.61.
MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $774.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $778.77 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 7.14% and a return on equity of 20.42%. The company’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share.
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSM. Fieldpoint Private Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. JJJ Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 418.7% in the fourth quarter. JJJ Advisors Inc. now owns 555 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 29.9% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 817 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 31.7% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares during the period. Finally, AJO LP purchased a new stake in MSC Industrial Direct in the fourth quarter worth $197,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.
In other MSC Industrial Direct news, SVP Edward F. Martin, Jr. sold 871 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total transaction of $71,108.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Charles Bonomo sold 4,298 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.01, for a total transaction of $361,074.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 81,339 shares of company stock worth $7,019,914. 28.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 13th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 12th. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.29%.
About MSC Industrial Direct
MSC Industrial Direct Co, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, distributes metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Its 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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