Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Grows Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 20.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,008 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,871 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC purchased a new stake in Fastenal during the fourth quarter worth approximately $873,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Fastenal by 1.8% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 369,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,373,000 after buying an additional 6,488 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in Fastenal during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,756,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Fastenal by 3.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,572,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,703,000 after buying an additional 165,423 shares during the period. Finally, Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. grew its stake in Fastenal by 29.9% during the fourth quarter. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. now owns 36,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,615,000 after buying an additional 8,380 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Fastenal Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ FAST opened at $75.26 on Monday. Fastenal has a 12 month low of $61.36 and a 12 month 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. The company has a market capitalization of $43.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $74.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.35.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is 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.