Moors & Cabot Inc. Grows Holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,822 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in Fastenal in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fastenal during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Fastenal during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. William Blair raised Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. HSBC lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST stock opened at $75.26 on Friday. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $61.36 and a 12-month 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 capitalization of $43.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.24.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released 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). The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.57%.

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.