Blair William & Co. IL Sells 17,809 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,256,767 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,809 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $234,194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of 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 bought a new stake in Fastenal during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Fastenal during the 4th quarter worth $68,000. Finally, Eastern Bank lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 440.7% during 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 period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fastenal Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $77.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.21 billion, a PE ratio of 38.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. Fastenal has a fifty-two week low of $61.36 and a fifty-two week high of $84.88. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.82.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders 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 is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 85.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on FAST shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. HSBC cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective 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 on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.91.

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.