Groupama Asset Managment Sells 10,306 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Groupama Asset Managment lowered its position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 73.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,770 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,306 shares during the quarter. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Fastenal by 0.8% in 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 during the period. State Street Corp raised 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,765,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,493,214,000 after acquiring an additional 886,999 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,918,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,214,002,000 after acquiring an additional 234,713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at about $522,558,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on FAST shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wolfe Research raised Fastenal from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. HSBC lowered Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of FAST stock opened at $78.01 on Friday. Fastenal has a 1 year low of $61.36 and a 1 year 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $75.51 and its 200-day moving average is $76.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.81, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.04.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.57%.

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.