Farringdon Capital Ltd. Buys New Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. bought a new stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,993 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $287,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FAST. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,300,792 shares of the company's stock worth $5,199,150,000 after acquiring an additional 592,583 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Fastenal by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,765,044 shares of the company's stock worth $1,493,214,000 after purchasing an additional 886,999 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,918,464 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,214,002,000 after purchasing an additional 234,713 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at about $522,558,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,628,282 shares of the company's stock worth $476,640,000 after buying an additional 33,718 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FAST has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wolfe Research raised Fastenal from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. William Blair raised shares of Fastenal from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.10.

Fastenal Price Performance

FAST traded down $1.29 during trading on Monday, hitting $80.29. 3,089,847 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,087,863. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $76.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.79. The company has a market cap 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 twelve month low of $61.36 and a twelve month high of $84.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.67 and a quick ratio of 2.28.

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

Fastenal Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Fastenal

In other news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.31, for a total value of $1,219,650.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $487,616.07. The trade was a 71.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

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.