Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $5.67 Million Stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P cut its holdings in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 26.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 78,787 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,880 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $5,666,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FAST. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at about $68,000. Finally, Eastern Bank lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FAST has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. William Blair upgraded Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. HSBC cut Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price 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. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FAST opened at $76.17 on Friday. Fastenal has a 1 year low of $61.36 and a 1 year high of $84.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.94.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly 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 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 the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

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

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.