Vestcor Inc Lowers Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Vestcor Inc lowered its stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,999 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,916 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc's holdings in Fastenal were worth $4,818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Fastenal by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,307 shares of the company's stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Fastenal during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Fastenal by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 13,980 shares of the company's stock worth $998,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231 shares in the last quarter. First National Trust Co purchased a new stake in Fastenal during the 3rd quarter worth about $211,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Fastenal by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,416,628 shares of the company's stock worth $101,176,000 after purchasing an additional 17,997 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FAST. HSBC cut Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Hsbc Global Res cut Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. William Blair raised Fastenal from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $76.91.

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Fastenal Trading Up 2.1 %

FAST traded up $1.57 on Friday, hitting $75.26. 4,083,686 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,951,826. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.24. 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 12 month low of $61.36 and a 12 month high of $84.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.16 billion, a PE ratio of 37.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. Fastenal's revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

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