R Squared Ltd Buys Shares of 940 Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Fastenal during the third quarter valued at approximately $310,000. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. grew its stake in Fastenal by 73.0% in the 3rd quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. now owns 87,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,219,000 after buying an additional 36,742 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 369,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,373,000 after buying an additional 6,488 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at $1,756,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Fastenal by 3.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,572,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,703,000 after acquiring an additional 165,423 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In related news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,480 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.92, for a total transaction of $1,970,441.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel L. Johnson sold 8,474 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.36, for a total transaction of $706,392.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,595 shares in the company, valued at $883,199.20. The trade was a 44.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 63,772 shares of company stock worth $5,365,455 over the last ninety days. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FAST shares. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. HSBC lowered Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastenal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of Fastenal stock opened at $73.24 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.68. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $61.36 and a 12-month high of $84.88. The company has a current ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $41.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.44, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.02.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced 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 net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. Fastenal’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.61%.

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.