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

MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE:MSM) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 26th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of 0.85 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.26%.

MSC Industrial Direct has raised its dividend by an average of 3.9% per year over the last three years. MSC Industrial Direct has a dividend payout ratio of 83.3% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Equities analysts expect MSC Industrial Direct to earn $4.05 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 84.0%.

MSC Industrial Direct Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSM opened at $79.84 on Thursday. MSC Industrial Direct has a 1-year low of $72.79 and a 1-year high of $100.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.05 and a beta of 0.90. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $80.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.46.

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The industrial products company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.13. MSC Industrial Direct had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 6.21%. The firm had revenue of $928.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $904.90 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that MSC Industrial Direct will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of MSC Industrial Direct in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Stephens downgraded MSC Industrial Direct from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.80.

About MSC Industrial Direct

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.