9,211 Shares in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Purchased by Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $662,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FAST. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,300,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,199,150,000 after purchasing an additional 592,583 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,989,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,999,009,000 after buying an additional 1,346,863 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 4.5% in the fourth 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. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Fastenal by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,918,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,214,002,000 after acquiring an additional 234,713 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at about $522,558,000. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fastenal Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $74.42 on Friday. Fastenal has a fifty-two week low of $61.36 and a fifty-two 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $75.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.03, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.04.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released 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). Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.43 dividend. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s payout ratio is currently 85.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FAST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Fastenal from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday. William Blair upgraded Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. HSBC lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fastenal has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Company 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.