Banco BTG Pactual S.A. Acquires Shares of 5,448 Fastenal Company $FAST

Key Points

• Banco BTG Pactual S.A. has acquired a new stake in Fastenal Company, purchasing 5,448 shares valued at approximately $422,000 during the first quarter.
• Several other institutional investors increased their stakes in Fastenal, with BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S significantly boosting its stake by 416.4%.
• Fastenal recently reported earnings of $0.29 per share, exceeding estimates, and plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share starting August 26th.

Banco BTG Pactual S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 5,448 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $422,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FAST. Horizon Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 5,330.0% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 543 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 481.9% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 611 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 1st quarter worth $49,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 1st quarter worth $57,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 5,661.5% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 749 shares of the company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Stephens increased their price target on Fastenal from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Loop Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Fastenal from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $47.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price target on Fastenal and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastenal has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.36.

Insider Transactions at Fastenal

In related news, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.21, for a total transaction of $951,760.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $460,780.32. This trade represents a 67.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total value of $333,000.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $583,747.98. This trade represents a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,230 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,364 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST stock traded up $1.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $50.39. The stock had a trading volume of 5,442,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,864,219. The business's fifty day moving average is $45.26 and its 200-day moving average is $41.35. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $57.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.45, a PEG ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.95. Fastenal Company has a 1-year low of $32.04 and a 1-year high of $50.60.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.33% and a net margin of 15.30%.The company's revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio is currently 84.62%.

Fastenal Company Profile

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.