Champlain Investment Partners LLC Acquires New Shares in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Champlain Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 497,795 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,796,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Fastenal as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, Eastern Bank boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 440.7% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 984 shares of the company's stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.31, for a total transaction of $1,219,650.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at $487,616.07. The trade was a 71.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Fastenal Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of FAST stock traded down $1.27 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $80.17. 1,647,654 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,082,760. Fastenal has a 12 month low of $61.36 and a 12 month high of $84.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 4.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $76.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.82. The stock has a market cap of $45.99 billion, a PE ratio of 39.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.52. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. This is an increase from Fastenal's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 87.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on FAST. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Stephens increased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Fastenal from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered 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. Finally, William Blair upgraded Fastenal from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fastenal has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.10.

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.