Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Purchases 28,889 Shares of Fastenal Company $FAST

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 305,506 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,889 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $15,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FAST. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,105,454,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Fastenal by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,438,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,710,764,000 after acquiring an additional 869,793 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the second quarter worth approximately $859,310,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Fastenal by 12.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,292,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $755,969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,744,193 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 1.2% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,561,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $747,395,000 after acquiring an additional 183,238 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on FAST. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Friday, September 4th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Fastenal in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $51.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. DA Davidson set a $51.00 price target on Fastenal and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Fastenal from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.46.

Fastenal Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $53.21 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $61.05 billion, a PE ratio of 42.91, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.66. Fastenal Company has a 52-week low of $38.97 and a 52-week high of $53.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 3.93. The business has a fifty day moving average of $50.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.34.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.44 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 35.13% and a net margin of 15.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fastenal Company will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 28th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is currently 83.87%.

Fastenal Company Profile

Fastenal Company is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies headquartered in Winona, Minnesota. Founded in 1967, the company primarily serves businesses that require products for manufacturing, construction, maintenance, repair and operations.

Its product range includes threaded fasteners, bolts, nuts, screws, industrial and safety supplies, tools, electrical and plumbing products, material-handling equipment, and other related items. Fastenal also provides inventory-management solutions, including automated vending machines, customer-specific inventory programs and onsite services designed to improve product availability and purchasing efficiency.

Fastenal serves customers through a network of locations and sales channels across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and parts of Asia.