Choate Investment Advisors Buys 274 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Choate Investment Advisors raised its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,536 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Fastenal were worth $254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in Fastenal in the third quarter valued at $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at about $68,000. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST stock opened at $76.07 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $43.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. 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 52 week low of $61.36 and a 52 week high of $84.88. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.41.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.02). The company 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 business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 85.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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