Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM – Get Rating) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,442 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 34.8% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,480,861 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $467,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414,485 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,307,751 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $367,063,000 after buying an additional 38,035 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 11.7% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,503,731 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $298,553,000 after buying an additional 368,106 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 7.5% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,305,746 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $111,263,000 after buying an additional 91,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in MSC Industrial Direct by 0.5% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,023,981 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $87,253,000 after buying an additional 5,411 shares during the last quarter. 76.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSM shares. William Blair cut MSC Industrial Direct from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 29th. Stephens cut their target price on MSC Industrial Direct to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, July 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on MSC Industrial Direct from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

MSC Industrial Direct Price Performance

Shares of MSM opened at $75.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 2.37. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. has a one year low of $71.69 and a one year high of $87.99. The stock's fifty day moving average is $80.29 and its 200-day moving average is $80.82.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $958.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $962.54 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 25.72% and a net margin of 8.62%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. will post 6.14 EPS for the current year.

MSC Industrial Direct Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 12th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 11th. MSC Industrial Direct's payout ratio is currently 55.66%.

MSC Industrial Direct Profile

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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, and the United Kingdom. Its 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.

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