MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) posted its earnings results on Tuesday. The industrial products company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.02, MarketWatch Earnings reports. The company had revenue of $771.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $771.54 million. MSC Industrial Direct had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 19.38%. MSC Industrial Direct’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.21 EPS.

MSM traded up $0.53 during trading on Thursday, reaching $83.85. 4,486 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 896,952. The stock has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $84.71 and a 200 day moving average of $72.09. The company has a current ratio of 3.03, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. MSC Industrial Direct has a 52 week low of $44.93 and a 52 week high of $87.84.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 12th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 11th. MSC Industrial Direct’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

MSM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of MSC Industrial Direct from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James raised shares of MSC Industrial Direct from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. KeyCorp boosted their price target on MSC Industrial Direct from $82.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on MSC Industrial Direct from $75.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 16th. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on MSC Industrial Direct in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. MSC Industrial Direct currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.88.

MSC Industrial Direct Company Profile

MSC Industrial Direct Co, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, distributes metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products 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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