Fastenal Company $FAST Shares Purchased by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 16.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 96,120 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 13,461 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $3,857,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 106.1% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,431,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $648,118,000 after purchasing an additional 7,943,217 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,515,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,430,322,000 after purchasing an additional 2,346,045 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 14.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 18,215,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $893,307,000 after purchasing an additional 2,242,116 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1,039.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 2,337,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,253,000 after purchasing an additional 2,132,593 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 90.7% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,590,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,068,000 after acquiring an additional 1,707,396 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FAST. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Fastenal in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Fastenal in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.85.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $47.19 on Friday. Fastenal Company has a 1 year low of $38.97 and a 1 year high of $50.63. The firm has a market cap of $54.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.39, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $45.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a current ratio of 4.39.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 13th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.30. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 15.39%.The company’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 28th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is currently 84.21%.

About Fastenal

Fastenal (NASDAQ: FAST) is a wholesale distributor of industrial and construction supplies, best known for its broad assortment of fasteners such as bolts, nuts, screws and anchors. Founded in Winona, Minnesota, Fastenal has grown from a regional supplier into a national and international distributor serving a wide range of end markets, including manufacturing, construction, maintenance, repair and operations (MRO), and government customers. The company is publicly traded and operates through a network of locally staffed branches combined with national distribution capabilities.

Product offerings extend beyond fasteners to include tools, safety and personal protective equipment, power transmission components, cutting and welding supplies, janitorial and material handling items, and other industrial consumables.