Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 2,144 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,565 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,144 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $2,198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FAST. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at about $101,183,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,989,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,999,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346,863 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,765,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,493,214,000 after purchasing an additional 886,999 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Fastenal by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,683,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,188,251,000 after acquiring an additional 880,372 shares during the period. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,836,000. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on FAST. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research increased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. William Blair raised shares of Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

NASDAQ FAST opened at $75.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.47. Fastenal has a 1 year low of $61.36 and a 1 year high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) 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 revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given 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 was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.