Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Sells 6,665 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC reduced its position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 170,131 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,665 shares during the quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $12,234,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FAST. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 79.9% during the fourth quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 343,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,680,000 after acquiring an additional 152,390 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 411,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,598,000 after acquiring an additional 42,330 shares during the period. Haven Private LLC bought a new position in shares of Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at $411,000. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 33.1% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 8,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $592,000 after acquiring an additional 2,047 shares during the period. Finally, Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 39,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,859,000 after buying an additional 958 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on FAST. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Fastenal in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. HSBC cut Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Trading Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $79.98 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.86 billion, a PE ratio of 39.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.67 and a quick ratio of 2.28. Fastenal has a fifty-two week low of $61.36 and a fifty-two week high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released 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 the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.43 dividend. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 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.