9,211 Shares in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Acquired by Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 9,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $662,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter worth $873,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,756,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Fastenal by 3.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,572,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $350,703,000 after buying an additional 165,423 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 124,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,932,000 after acquiring an additional 7,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 8,380 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented 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 report on Tuesday, January 21st. HSBC downgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research raised Fastenal from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. William Blair raised Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastenal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Down 4.6 %

FAST stock opened at $74.42 on Friday. 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. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $75.48 and its 200 day moving average is $76.19. The firm has a market cap of $42.68 billion, a PE ratio of 37.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.04.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted 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 analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. Fastenal’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Fastenal’s 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.