Unigestion Holding SA Buys New Shares in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 6,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $467,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $840,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Fastenal by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 7,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,026,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FAST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res cut Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. William Blair upgraded Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Fastenal from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastenal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST stock opened at $74.42 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.67 and a quick ratio of 2.28. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $75.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.04. Fastenal has a 12 month low of $61.36 and a 12 month high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.57%.

Fastenal Company 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.