Cetera Investment Advisers Boosts Stock Position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST)

Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 11.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 174,847 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 18,095 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Fastenal were worth $13,559,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Fastenal by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,918,464 shares of the company's stock worth $1,214,002,000 after buying an additional 234,713 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,275,793 shares of the company's stock worth $595,112,000 after acquiring an additional 74,903 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,322,739 shares of the company's stock worth $526,578,000 after acquiring an additional 966,629 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,018,546 shares of the company's stock worth $504,703,000 after acquiring an additional 116,866 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Fastenal by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,628,282 shares of the company's stock valued at $476,640,000 after buying an additional 33,718 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Scott Satterlee sold 19,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.76, for a total transaction of $768,861.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,987,750. This represents a 27.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 32,724 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.23, for a total value of $1,349,046.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 73,116 shares of company stock worth $3,069,670 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Loop Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 target price on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.64.

Fastenal Stock Down 0.4%

FAST stock traded down $0.19 on Wednesday, reaching $46.41. 5,809,125 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,651,881. Fastenal Company has a one year low of $32.04 and a one year high of $48.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 2.12. The company has a market cap of $53.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.03.

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

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio is currently 84.62%.

Fastenal 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.