OneAscent Financial Services LLC Buys New Shares in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 4,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $338,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Finally, Eastern Bank raised its stake in Fastenal by 440.7% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST stock opened at $78.01 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.12. 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 stock has a market cap of $44.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.04.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FAST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. 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. Hsbc Global Res cut Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research raised Fastenal from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target 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. Finally, William Blair upgraded Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.91.

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.