Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Has $310,000 Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,339 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $310,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Fastenal by 4,008.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 756,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,522,000 after purchasing an additional 737,833 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Fastenal by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,837,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,161,000 after purchasing an additional 636,546 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,659,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Fastenal by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,420,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,794,000 after buying an additional 517,172 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FAST. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group began coverage on Fastenal in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 target price for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.80.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $83.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a current ratio of 4.40. The company has a market cap of $47.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.57, a P/E/G ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.99. Fastenal has a 52-week low of $59.49 and a 52-week high of $84.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $77.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.31.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.30% and a net margin of 15.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP John Lewis Soderberg sold 488 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.32, for a total value of $37,244.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.68, for a total value of $3,484,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,929,734.24. The trade was a 14.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 208,289 shares of company stock worth $16,123,438 in the last 90 days. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.