Clifford Capital Partners LLC Raises Position in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM)

Clifford Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) by 139.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,516 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 4,383 shares during the quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in MSC Industrial Direct were worth $647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in MSC Industrial Direct in the 1st quarter worth approximately $16,571,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 68.5% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 157,252 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,458,000 after purchasing an additional 63,955 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 85.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,733,228 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $216,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256,706 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in MSC Industrial Direct in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,101,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 892.9% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 695 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. 79.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSC Industrial Direct

In other news, Director Philip Peller sold 900 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now owns 4,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $360,199.08. This represents a 18.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Erik Gershwind sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,402,849 shares in the company, valued at $126,761,435.64. This represents a 3.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSC Industrial Direct Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE MSM opened at $85.69 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.08. The company has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 0.90. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.05 and a 1 year high of $104.76.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $952.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $959.74 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 19.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. will post 3.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This is a positive change from MSC Industrial Direct’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. MSC Industrial Direct’s payout ratio is presently 74.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSM. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $87.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSC Industrial Direct has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.20.

MSC Industrial Direct Company 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.