PDS Planning Inc Buys New Stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

PDS Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 3,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FAST. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 8,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $619,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Fastenal by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,985 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 7,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FAST. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. William Blair raised shares of Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective 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 downgraded Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastenal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

NASDAQ FAST opened at $76.46 on Thursday. Fastenal has a fifty-two week low of $61.36 and a fifty-two week high of $84.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $74.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 4.67.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.43 dividend. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is 85.57%.

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.