Valley National Advisers Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM)

Valley National Advisers Inc. lowered its stake in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 36.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,087 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,491 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in MSC Industrial Direct were worth $454,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in MSC Industrial Direct by 57.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 53.0% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 2.4% in the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 6,925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 54.0% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 476 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,833 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSM. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on MSC Industrial Direct from $87.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Stephens lowered MSC Industrial Direct from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on MSC Industrial Direct from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.80.

MSC Industrial Direct Stock Performance

Shares of MSM opened at $80.53 on Monday. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. has a one year low of $72.79 and a one year high of $104.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.50 billion, a PE ratio of 19.22 and a beta of 0.91.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The industrial products company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $928.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $904.90 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 6.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSC Industrial Direct Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Philip Peller sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.07, for a total transaction of $80,163.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,044 shares in the company, valued at $360,199.08. This trade represents a 18.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Erik Gershwind sold 50,000 shares of MSC Industrial Direct stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.36, for a total value of $4,518,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,402,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $126,761,435.64. This represents a 3.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About MSC Industrial Direct

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.