Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Stock Holdings Lessened by Great Lakes Retirement Inc.

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. decreased its position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,841 shares of the company’s stock after selling 191 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $443,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FAST. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Fastenal by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 45,154,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,435,637,000 after buying an additional 138,257 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Fastenal by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,830,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $751,780,000 after acquiring an additional 423,112 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,676,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $736,259,000 after acquiring an additional 117,040 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Fastenal by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,092,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $430,243,000 after purchasing an additional 2,492,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Fastenal by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,502,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,642,000 after purchasing an additional 41,898 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fastenal news, Director Reyne K. Wisecup sold 34,042 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total transaction of $2,331,196.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,369,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Reyne K. Wisecup sold 34,042 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total transaction of $2,331,196.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,369,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.25, for a total transaction of $1,633,607.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 105,682 shares of company stock valued at $7,375,853 in the last ninety days. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FAST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Fastenal from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.50.

Fastenal Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ FAST traded down $0.06 on Thursday, reaching $77.22. 2,121,295 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,933,467. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 4.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.09. Fastenal has a 12 month low of $50.30 and a 12 month high of $79.04. The company has a market cap of $44.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.05.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. Fastenal had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 15.72%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. Fastenal’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 77.23%.

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.