CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Decreases Stock Holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co decreased its holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,021,993 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,367 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned approximately 0.18% of Fastenal worth $73,461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FAST. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 6.9% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,170 shares of the company's stock worth $298,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Fastenal by 56.0% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 3,999 shares of the company's stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 1,435 shares in the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 5.4% during the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 6,412 shares of the company's stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,038,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,243 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,374,000 after acquiring an additional 1,599 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company's stock.

Fastenal Price Performance

NASDAQ FAST traded down $1.29 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $80.29. The company had a trading volume of 3,089,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,087,862. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 4.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.95, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. Fastenal has a 52 week low of $61.36 and a 52 week high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 25th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 25th. This is a positive change from Fastenal's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio is 87.56%.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.31, for a total transaction of $1,219,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at $487,616.07. This represents a 71.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FAST. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Fastenal from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Fastenal from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, William Blair raised Fastenal from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One investment analyst has 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.10.

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.