Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Acquires 2,131 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,628,324 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,131 shares during the quarter. Fastenal accounts for approximately 2.3% of Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $117,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC bought a new stake in Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $873,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 1.8% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 369,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,488 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,756,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 3.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,572,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,703,000 after purchasing an additional 165,423 shares during the period. Finally, Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 29.9% in the fourth quarter. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. now owns 36,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,615,000 after purchasing an additional 8,380 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FAST shares. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. William Blair upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price 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 assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fastenal has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Price Performance

Fastenal stock opened at $75.51 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $43.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.57, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $75.02 and its 200 day moving average is $75.47. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 4.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Fastenal has a 52-week low of $61.36 and a 52-week high of $84.88.

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

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.