Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 163.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,941 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 30,969 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Fastenal were worth $2,098,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Fastenal by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company's stock worth $1,753,864,000 after buying an additional 1,850,871 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in Fastenal by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 181,482 shares of the company's stock worth $14,074,000 after buying an additional 12,721 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its stake in Fastenal by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 195,748 shares of the company's stock worth $15,180,000 after buying an additional 7,400 shares during the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG boosted its stake in Fastenal by 21.5% in the 1st quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 35,606 shares of the company's stock worth $2,712,000 after buying an additional 6,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 23.9% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,459,124 shares of the company's stock worth $190,705,000 after purchasing an additional 473,987 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird upgraded Fastenal from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Baird R W upgraded Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Stephens raised their price objective on Fastenal from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price objective on Fastenal in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Northcoast Research assumed coverage on Fastenal in a report on Thursday, August 21st. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.82.
View Our Latest Research Report on Fastenal
Fastenal Price Performance
FAST stock opened at $47.12 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Fastenal Company has a 52-week low of $34.69 and a 52-week high of $50.63. The stock's 50 day moving average is $47.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.75. The company has a market capitalization of $54.08 billion, a PE ratio of 45.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.97.
Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.33% and a net margin of 15.30%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. Analysts predict that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Fastenal Cuts Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio is 84.62%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal
In other Fastenal news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total value of $333,000.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,994 shares of the company's stock, valued at $583,747.98. This trade represents a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.21, for a total value of $951,760.92. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 111,230 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,364. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.
Fastenal Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
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