28,556 Shares of Fastenal Company $FAST Acquired by GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC

Key Points

• GRIMES & Co. Wealth Management bought 28,556 Fastenal shares in the third quarter, valued at about $1.414 million; institutional investors overall own 81.38% of the stock.
• Fastenal beat quarterly estimates, reporting EPS of $0.35 versus $0.34 expected and revenue of $2.46 billion, up 15.5% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, equal to an annualized yield of about 2%. Analysts’ consensus rating was Hold, with a $51.46 average price target.

GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 28,556 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,414,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FAST. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,105,454,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,438,968 shares of the company's stock worth $2,710,764,000 after buying an additional 869,793 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $859,310,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,292,425 shares of the company's stock worth $755,969,000 after buying an additional 1,744,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $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.

Fastenal Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of FAST stock opened at $52.33 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.52 and a 200-day moving average of $47.29. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 3.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Fastenal Company has a 12-month low of $38.97 and a 12-month high of $53.30. The firm has a market cap of $60.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.38, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.66.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 14th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.01. Fastenal had a return on equity of 35.13% and a net margin of 15.62%. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. Fastenal's revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fastenal Company will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 28th. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FAST has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Fastenal from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $55.00 price objective on Fastenal and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Fastenal from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastenal presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $51.46.

Fastenal 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.

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