Raymond James & Associates Buys 31,814 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 900,171 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,814 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.16% of Fastenal worth $58,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Fastenal by 0.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 45,154,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,435,637,000 after acquiring an additional 138,257 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Fastenal by 3.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,830,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $751,780,000 after acquiring an additional 423,112 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Fastenal by 0.9% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,676,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $736,259,000 after acquiring an additional 117,040 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Fastenal by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,092,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,243,000 after acquiring an additional 2,492,722 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Fastenal by 0.6% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,502,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,642,000 after acquiring an additional 41,898 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In related news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 11,076 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $832,472.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Fastenal news, Director Reyne K. Wisecup sold 34,042 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total value of $2,331,196.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,369,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Charles S. Miller sold 11,076 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $832,472.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 105,682 shares of company stock valued at $7,375,853. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on FAST. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.50.

Fastenal Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of FAST stock opened at $77.28 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.26, a PEG ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 1.05. Fastenal has a one year low of $50.30 and a one year high of $79.04. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $72.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 4.57 and a quick ratio of 2.27.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.72% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 1st were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.23%.

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.