Roundview Capital LLC Grows Holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Roundview Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 113,969 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,622 shares during the quarter. Roundview Capital LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $8,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $522,558,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Fastenal during the 4th quarter worth $101,183,000. State Street Corp raised its position in Fastenal by 5.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 301.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,478,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,300,000 after buying an additional 1,110,445 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Fastenal by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,765,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,493,214,000 after buying an additional 886,999 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fastenal Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $77.55 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.58, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Fastenal has a 12 month low of $61.36 and a 12 month high of $84.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.04.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly 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 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on FAST shares. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target 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 on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. William Blair raised shares of Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.91.

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.