MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.85

MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 18th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of 0.85 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%.

MSC Industrial Direct has raised its dividend by an average of 2.2% annually over the last three years. MSC Industrial Direct has a payout ratio of 94.2% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Equities research analysts expect MSC Industrial Direct to earn $4.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 81.7%.

MSC Industrial Direct Trading Down 3.7 %

NYSE:MSM opened at $78.31 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.10 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.96. MSC Industrial Direct has a 1 year low of $75.05 and a 1 year high of $104.76. The business has a fifty day moving average of $83.51 and a 200-day moving average of $82.39.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 6.77%. The company had revenue of $952.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $959.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that MSC Industrial Direct will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $4,518,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,402,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,761,435.64. This represents a 3.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Philip Peller sold 900 shares of MSC Industrial Direct stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.07, for a total value 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 represents a 18.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of MSC Industrial Direct from $87.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on MSC Industrial Direct from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stephens downgraded MSC Industrial Direct from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, MSC Industrial Direct currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.20.

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.