Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan Makes New Investment in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 9,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $656,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Fastenal by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,300,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,199,150,000 after buying an additional 592,583 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 4.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 886,999 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Fastenal by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,918,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,214,002,000 after purchasing an additional 234,713 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at about $522,558,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Fastenal by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,628,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $476,640,000 after purchasing an additional 33,718 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.31, for a total transaction of $1,219,650.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $487,616.07. The trade was a 71.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fastenal Price Performance

NASDAQ FAST opened at $81.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.82 billion, a PE ratio of 40.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 4.67. Fastenal has a twelve month low of $61.36 and a twelve month high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.52. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. Fastenal’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 87.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on FAST. Stephens boosted their price target on Fastenal from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. William Blair raised shares of Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Fastenal from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Fastenal from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.10.

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.