Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 20,765,044 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 886,999 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 3.62% of Fastenal worth $1,493,214,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.6% during the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 8,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $619,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.9% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $545,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $840,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 4.5% during the third quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 3,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 7,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Price Performance

FAST stock opened at $74.38 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $74.09 and a 200-day moving average of $74.78. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $61.36 and a 12-month high of $84.88. The company has a current ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $42.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.02.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.31%. 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 (DPR) is 85.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on FAST shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective 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. HSBC downgraded 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. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price objective 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.91.

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.