MSC Industrial Direct (MSM)  will pay a special dividend of $3.50 per share in 2020. This comes after a $5.00 per share special dividend announced in 2019. The special dividend will be paid together with the regular quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share. Last year the distributor of MRO products and services had last hiked its dividend by 19.0 percent.

The special cash dividend is payable on December 15, 2020 to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 1, 2020. The ex-dividend date is November 30, 2020. In a press release announcing this new special dividend MSM states that it will fund the approximately $195 million required for the special cash dividend primarily from its revolving credit facility. The company's balance sheet and liquidity position remain healthy, and the company expects to continue generating strong cash flow. Funding this special dividend raises the company's leverage ratio moderately.

The regular dividend of $3.00 per share annually yields 3.6% at a stock price of $85. The special dividend will yield approximately 4.1% at current stock prices. MSM has hiked its regular dividend for 17 consecutive years. MSM pays an estimated $167 million in regular dividends to its shareholders annually.

MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. is a North American distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products and services. The company serves customers throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, from individual machine shops, to Fortune 100 manufacturing companies, to government agencies such as the General Services Administration and the Department of Defense. MSM initiated its quarterly dividend in 2003.