Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 999,696 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,041 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of Fastenal worth $71,888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Fastenal during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new position in shares of Fastenal during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Fastenal in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. 81.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Hsbc Global Res cut Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST stock traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $74.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,833,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,919,489. Fastenal has a 1-year low of $61.36 and a 1-year high of $84.88. The firm has a market cap of $42.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.06, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business's fifty day moving average is $74.07 and its 200-day moving average is $74.83.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. This is a positive change from Fastenal's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.