Martin Capital Partners LLC Has $242,000 Position in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM)

Martin Capital Partners LLC reduced its stake in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM - Free Report) by 94.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,234 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 50,599 shares during the quarter. Martin Capital Partners LLC's holdings in MSC Industrial Direct were worth $242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 53.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 407 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 2.4% during the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 6,925 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $596,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of MSC Industrial Direct by 54.0% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in MSC Industrial Direct by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 3,761 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MSM shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Stephens lowered MSC Industrial Direct from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a report on Thursday, January 16th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on MSC Industrial Direct from $87.00 to $73.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSC Industrial Direct currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $83.80.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Down 0.6 %

MSC Industrial Direct stock traded down $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $80.21. The stock had a trading volume of 373,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 609,942. The firm has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14 and a beta of 0.91. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.79 and a twelve month high of $104.76. 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's fifty day simple moving average is $80.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $82.06.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The industrial products company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $928.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. Equities 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 declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. MSC Industrial Direct's dividend payout ratio is currently 81.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Erik Gershwind sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Philip Peller sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.07, for a total value of $80,163.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,044 shares in the company, valued at approximately $360,199.08. This trade represents a 18.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.30% of the stock is 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.