Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,256,767 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,809 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.57% of Fastenal worth $234,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST opened at $77.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $44.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. Fastenal has a 12 month low of $61.36 and a 12 month high of $84.88. The company’s fifty day moving average is $75.29 and its 200-day moving average is $75.82. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 4.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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. Equities analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FAST shares. Hsbc Global Res cut Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. 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. William Blair upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. 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. Finally, HSBC lowered Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.91.

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.