Donaldson Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 623,503 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,836,000. Fastenal comprises 1.7% of Donaldson Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Donaldson Capital Management LLC owned about 0.11% of Fastenal at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FAST. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at about $101,183,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in Fastenal by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,989,485 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,999,009,000 after buying an additional 1,346,863 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Fastenal by 4.5% in 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 buying an additional 886,999 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Fastenal by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,683,751 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,188,251,000 after buying an additional 880,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Fastenal by 1,789.1% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 535,723 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,262,000 after buying an additional 507,364 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on FAST shares. William Blair raised shares of Fastenal from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut 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. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of Fastenal stock traded up $1.57 on Friday, hitting $75.26. 4,083,686 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,951,887. The company has a market cap of $43.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $74.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.19. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $61.36 and a 12-month high of $84.88. The company has a current ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 EPS. Analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Fastenal's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.57%.

Fastenal 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.