Level Four Advisory Services LLC Grows Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 77,290 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 906 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $5,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fastenal in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Fastenal during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, Eastern Bank increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 440.7% in the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. William Blair upgraded Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target 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. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research increased their target price 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. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of FAST stock opened at $77.73 on Friday. Fastenal has a fifty-two week low of $61.36 and a fifty-two week high of $84.88. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 4.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.57 billion, a PE ratio of 38.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share 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 in the prior year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. Fastenal’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.43 dividend. 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 2.21%. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is 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.