Kestra Investment Management LLC Grows Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 31.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,715 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,993 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC's holdings in Fastenal were worth $1,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FAST. State Street Corp boosted its position in Fastenal by 5.1% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,683,751 shares of the company's stock worth $1,188,251,000 after buying an additional 880,372 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,878,045 shares of the company's stock worth $1,419,690,000 after buying an additional 608,596 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1,789.1% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 535,723 shares of the company's stock worth $38,262,000 after buying an additional 507,364 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 59.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 928,377 shares of the company's stock worth $66,305,000 after buying an additional 345,537 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FAST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. HSBC downgraded Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fastenal currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Price Performance

NASDAQ FAST traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $74.78. The stock had a trading volume of 3,347,592 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,008,088. Fastenal has a twelve month low of $61.36 and a twelve month high of $84.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.20, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 1.02. The firm's 50 day moving average is $74.29 and its 200 day moving average is $74.24. 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 issued its 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 company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is an increase from Fastenal's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.