Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,407,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,183,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FAST. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,989,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,999,009,000 after acquiring an additional 1,346,863 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,765,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,493,214,000 after acquiring an additional 886,999 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 5.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,683,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,188,251,000 after acquiring an additional 880,372 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1,789.1% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 535,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,262,000 after acquiring an additional 507,364 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,443,000. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on FAST. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. HSBC lowered Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Fastenal in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Trading Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ FAST opened at $79.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $45.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. Fastenal has a 52 week low of $61.36 and a 52 week high of $84.88. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $74.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 4.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is currently 85.57%.

About Fastenal

Fastenal Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the wholesale distribution of industrial and construction supplies in the United States, Canada, Mexico, North America, and internationally. It offers fasteners, and related industrial and construction supplies under the Fastenal name. The company’s fastener products include threaded fasteners, bolts, nuts, screws, studs, and related washers that are used in manufactured products and construction projects, as well as in the maintenance and repair of machines.