Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Takes $308,000 Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE bought a new position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $308,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at $101,183,000. State Street Corp raised its position in Fastenal by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,989,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,999,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346,863 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Fastenal by 4.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 886,999 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 880,372 shares during the period. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,836,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of Fastenal stock opened at $76.17 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.94. Fastenal has a fifty-two week low of $61.36 and a fifty-two week high of $84.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.67 and a quick ratio of 2.28. The firm has a market cap of $43.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FAST shares. Wolfe Research increased their target price on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. William Blair upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.