Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Sells 56,726 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 974,348 shares of the company’s stock after selling 56,726 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $70,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Fastenal during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Fastenal during the fourth quarter worth $68,000. Finally, Eastern Bank lifted its stake in Fastenal by 440.7% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. William Blair raised Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, HSBC cut 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $77.09 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $44.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $75.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.81. Fastenal has a one year low of $61.36 and a one year 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 net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. 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 company posted $0.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 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.