TD Asset Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

TD Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,780,604 shares of the company’s stock after selling 231,631 shares during the quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.49% of Fastenal worth $199,953,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FAST. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Fastenal during the fourth quarter worth about $68,000. Finally, Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 440.7% in the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FAST shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. HSBC lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Price Performance

FAST opened at $77.09 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 4.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.21 billion, a PE ratio of 38.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $75.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.81. Fastenal has a 52-week low of $61.36 and a 52-week high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued 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). Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.57%.

Fastenal Profile

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.