Empowered Funds LLC Has $2 Million Stock Holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Empowered Funds LLC cut its holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 33.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,833 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,043 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $2,001,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FAST. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Fastenal during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in Fastenal during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. First Personal Financial Services bought a new stake in Fastenal during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 54.1% during the third quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at about $68,000. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price objective for the company. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $74.78 on Friday. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $61.36 and a 12-month high of $84.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 4.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.88 billion, a PE ratio of 37.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $74.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.05.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.02). The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.