38,160 Fastenal Company $FAST Shares Sold by Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS

Key Points

• Kornitzer Capital Management cut its Fastenal stake by 40.8% in the third quarter, selling 38,160 shares; it still held 55,261 shares valued at about $2.74 million.
• Analysts’ consensus rating was Hold, with an average price target of $51.46; seven rated the stock Buy, five Hold, and two Sell.
• Fastenal beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $0.35 and revenue of $2.46 billion, up 15.5% year over year. It also announced a $0.26 quarterly dividend.

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lessened its stake in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 40.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,261 shares of the company's stock after selling 38,160 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS's holdings in Fastenal were worth $2,737,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Fastenal in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Evergreen Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Fastenal during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky acquired a new stake in Fastenal during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Fastenal during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Paladin Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FAST has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $47.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Friday, September 4th. Argus raised their price target on Fastenal from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.46.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FAST opened at $54.57 on Tuesday. The firm's 50 day moving average is $50.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.48. Fastenal Company has a 52 week low of $38.97 and a 52 week high of $54.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.01, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 3.93, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 14th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Fastenal Company will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 28th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Fastenal's payout ratio is presently 83.87%.

About Fastenal

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