Prudential Financial Inc. Decreases Stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 12.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 295,670 shares of the company's stock after selling 43,765 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.05% of Fastenal worth $21,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Fastenal during the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Fastenal during the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,000. Finally, Eastern Bank raised its holdings in Fastenal by 440.7% in the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 984 shares of the company's stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FAST shares. Hsbc Global Res cut Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. 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 research note on Wednesday, December 11th. 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 dropped their price target on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $76.91.

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Fastenal Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FAST traded up $1.38 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $77.55. 4,356,166 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,064,848. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $75.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 4.67. Fastenal has a twelve month low of $61.36 and a twelve month high of $84.88. The company has a market cap of $44.47 billion, a PE ratio of 38.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.02). Fastenal had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. 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 is currently 85.57%.

Fastenal Company 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.