Alliancebernstein L.P. Reduces Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Alliancebernstein L.P. trimmed its position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 599,131 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,436 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.10% of Fastenal worth $43,084,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FAST. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at about $522,558,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at about $101,183,000. 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 valued at $1,999,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346,863 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Fastenal by 301.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,478,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,300,000 after buying an additional 1,110,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 4.5% during the fourth 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 period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FAST opened at $74.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.68 billion, a PE ratio of 37.03, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $75.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.19. Fastenal has a 1-year low of $61.36 and a 1-year high of $84.88. 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 (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.43 dividend. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 85.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FAST has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised Fastenal from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. William Blair raised shares of Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. HSBC downgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Hsbc Global Res cut Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.91.

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.