Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Boosts Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,689 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,031 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $1,272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 592,583 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,989,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,999,009,000 after buying an additional 1,346,863 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 4.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $1,188,251,000 after buying an additional 880,372 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at about $522,558,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $76.17 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 4.67. The company has a market capitalization of $43.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. Fastenal has a one year low of $61.36 and a one year high of $84.88. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.98.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. Fastenal’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is 85.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. William Blair raised shares of Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective 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. Finally, HSBC lowered Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.91.

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.