Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC Sells 4,525 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 163,840 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,525 shares during the period. Fastenal makes up 2.3% of Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $11,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 73.0% in the 3rd quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. now owns 87,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,219,000 after buying an additional 36,742 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 369,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,373,000 after buying an additional 6,488 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter worth $1,756,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,572,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,703,000 after buying an additional 165,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 124,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,932,000 after buying an additional 7,559 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on FAST. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, HSBC downgraded 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of FAST stock opened at $75.57 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $43.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.23. Fastenal has a one year low of $61.36 and a one year high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Fastenal’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities 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 will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.