Harbour Investments Inc. Increases Holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,231 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,251 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $1,167,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at about $873,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fastenal by 1.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter worth about $1,756,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fastenal by 3.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fastenal by 29.9% in 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 in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on FAST. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. HSBC downgraded Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, William Blair upgraded Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Trading Up 0.0 %

FAST opened at $76.09 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $43.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $74.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.46. Fastenal has a one year low of $61.36 and a one year high of $84.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 4.67.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio 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.