Prudential PLC Sells 4,079 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Prudential PLC trimmed its position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 31.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,865 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,079 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $637,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FAST. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter worth $68,000. Finally, Eastern Bank grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 440.7% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Fastenal from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. HSBC lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, William Blair raised Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of Fastenal stock opened at $72.16 on Tuesday. 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 $41.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. Fastenal has a one year low of $61.36 and a one year high of $84.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $75.40 and its 200-day moving average is $76.23.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.