Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 592,583 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,300,792 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 592,583 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.62% of Fastenal worth $5,199,150,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in Fastenal by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,989,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,999,009,000 after buying an additional 1,346,863 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Fastenal by 4.5% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Fastenal by 5.6% in 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 last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Fastenal by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 4,931,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,655,000 after buying an additional 26,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Fastenal by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,718,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,974,000 after buying an additional 226,126 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. William Blair upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of Fastenal stock opened at $74.73 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.65. Fastenal has a twelve month low of $61.36 and a twelve month high of $84.88. The firm has a market cap of $42.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05.

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 firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.