Amundi Purchases 288,964 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 17.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,931,502 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 288,964 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned approximately 0.34% of Fastenal worth $140,480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC bought a new stake in Fastenal during the 4th quarter worth about $873,000. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. grew its holdings in Fastenal by 73.0% during the 3rd quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. now owns 87,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,219,000 after acquiring an additional 36,742 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Fastenal by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 369,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,373,000 after acquiring an additional 6,488 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co bought a new stake in Fastenal during the 4th quarter worth about $1,756,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Fastenal by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,572,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,703,000 after acquiring an additional 165,423 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Price Performance

NASDAQ FAST opened at $79.80 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.13. Fastenal has a 52-week low of $61.36 and a 52-week 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 stock has a market cap of $45.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.70, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. Fastenal’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on FAST shares. Wolfe Research upped their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. William Blair upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. HSBC downgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.91.

About Fastenal

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.