Sanctuary Advisors LLC Sells 2,682 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 89,437 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,682 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $6,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of FAST. State Street Corp raised its position 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 worth $1,999,009,000 after acquiring an additional 1,346,863 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Fastenal by 5.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,683,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,188,251,000 after purchasing an additional 880,372 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Fastenal by 3.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,878,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,419,690,000 after purchasing an additional 608,596 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in Fastenal by 1,789.1% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 535,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,262,000 after buying an additional 507,364 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 59.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 928,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,305,000 after buying an additional 345,537 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FAST has been the subject of several research reports. HSBC lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FAST opened at $75.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.67 and a quick ratio of 2.28. Fastenal has a 1 year low of $61.36 and a 1 year high of $84.88. The company has a market cap of $43.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.60, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $74.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.23.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is currently 85.57%.

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.