Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Shares Acquired by NEOS Investment Management LLC

NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 52.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 155,958 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,622 shares during the quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $11,215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Fastenal by 0.8% during the 4th 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 boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,999,009,000 after buying an additional 1,346,863 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Fastenal by 4.5% during 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 increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 5.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,683,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,188,251,000 after buying an additional 880,372 shares during the period. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Fastenal by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 4,931,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,655,000 after acquiring an additional 26,254 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $77.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $44.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. Fastenal has a twelve month low of $61.36 and a twelve month high of $84.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $75.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.82. The company has a current ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on FAST shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. HSBC lowered Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. William Blair upgraded Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their target price on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.