SRN Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

SRN Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,619 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,291 shares during the period. SRN Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $836,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Fastenal by 5.1% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 880,372 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Fastenal by 3.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in Fastenal by 1,789.1% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 535,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,262,000 after purchasing an additional 507,364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 59.3% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 928,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,305,000 after buying an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FAST shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Fastenal in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, HSBC lowered Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $73.89 on Thursday. Fastenal has a 12 month low of $61.36 and a 12 month high of $84.88. The business’s 50 day moving average is $74.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.54. The company has a market cap of $42.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 4.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) 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 business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.57%.

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.