Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Buys Shares of 59,657 Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations bought a new position in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 59,657 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,290,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at $101,183,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Fastenal by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,989,485 shares of the company's stock worth $1,999,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346,863 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,765,044 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,493,214,000 after acquiring an additional 886,999 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 5.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,683,751 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,188,251,000 after purchasing an additional 880,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,836,000. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FAST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. 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. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. William Blair raised shares of Fastenal from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fastenal has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $76.91.

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Fastenal Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:FAST traded up $0.83 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $77.00. 1,129,395 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,052,200. The company has a market capitalization of $44.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. Fastenal has a twelve month low of $61.36 and a twelve month high of $84.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 4.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company's 50 day moving average is $75.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.98.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during 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%. Fastenal's revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. 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 2.23%. Fastenal's 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.