Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Shares Sold by National Pension Service

National Pension Service lessened its holdings in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 671,197 shares of the company’s stock after selling 49,559 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $48,266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. First Personal Financial Services bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter worth $68,000. Finally, Eastern Bank raised its stake 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 buying an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on FAST. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. HSBC downgraded Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group started coverage on Fastenal in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $74.09 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $42.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.54. 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. 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.