Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Shares Acquired by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 20.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,008 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,871 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of FAST. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Fastenal by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 194,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,887,000 after buying an additional 9,668 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Fastenal by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 205,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,693,000 after buying an additional 36,673 shares during the period. KPP Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Fastenal by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the period. Finally, Accredited Investors Inc. increased its stake in Fastenal by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 18,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,317,000 after buying an additional 3,577 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on FAST shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating 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. 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 research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective 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. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST opened at $75.26 on Monday. Fastenal has a one year low of $61.36 and a one year high of $84.88. The company has a 50-day moving average of $74.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.35. The stock has a market cap of $43.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.44, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. 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 (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.