AIA Group Ltd Increases Position in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM)

AIA Group Ltd lifted its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 34.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,255 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 3,383 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in MSC Industrial Direct were worth $1,342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSM. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 154.8% in the 4th quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct in the 4th quarter worth approximately $77,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $93,000. Finally, USA Financial Formulas lifted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 5,345.0% in the third quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 1,089 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on MSM. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on MSC Industrial Direct from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded MSC Industrial Direct from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.00.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MSM stock opened at $91.65 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 0.92. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.14 and a 1 year high of $105.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42 and a beta of 0.95.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.02. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 7.89% and a return on equity of 22.58%. The business had revenue of $935.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $946.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. will post 5.69 earnings per share for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 8th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. MSC Industrial Direct’s payout ratio is 59.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSC Industrial Direct

In other news, Director Mitchell Jacobson sold 51,040 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.31, for a total value of $4,966,702.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,907,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $185,596,541.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 232,003 shares of company stock valued at $22,679,413 in the last 90 days. 18.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSC Industrial Direct 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.