Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Increases Stock Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 59.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 928,377 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned approximately 0.16% of Fastenal worth $66,305,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FAST. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 42.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 4,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. grew its position in Fastenal by 11.1% during the third quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 7,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $509,000 after buying an additional 714 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Fastenal by 13.6% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 24,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,785,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Fastenal by 5.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,718,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,974,000 after acquiring an additional 226,126 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 199,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,232,000 after acquiring an additional 6,218 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Daniel L. Johnson sold 8,474 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.36, for a total transaction of $706,392.64. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,595 shares in the company, valued at $883,199.20. The trade was a 44.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.68, for a total value of $3,484,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,929,734.24. This represents a 14.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 208,289 shares of company stock worth $16,123,438. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fastenal Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of FAST opened at $83.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.40 and a quick ratio of 2.29. Fastenal has a 1 year low of $59.49 and a 1 year high of $84.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.31.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.30% and a net margin of 15.44%. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 77.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FAST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group started coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target for the company. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $86.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.80.

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.