BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Has $10.75 Million Stock Holdings in Fastenal Company $FAST

Key Points

• BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its stake in Fastenal by 416.4% in Q1, owning 138,627 shares valued at approximately $10.75 million.
• Fastenal reported an EPS of $0.29 for the quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates of $0.28, with revenue increasing 8.6% year-over-year.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share with a payout ratio of 84.62%, scheduled for payment on August 26th.

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 416.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 138,627 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 111,784 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Fastenal were worth $10,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 8.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,753,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850,871 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 7.5% during the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 181,482 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,074,000 after purchasing an additional 12,721 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 3.9% during the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 195,748 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,180,000 after purchasing an additional 7,400 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 21.5% during the first quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 35,606 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,712,000 after purchasing an additional 6,303 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 23.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,459,124 shares of the company's stock valued at $190,705,000 after purchasing an additional 473,987 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fastenal Price Performance

Fastenal stock traded up $1.25 on Friday, reaching $50.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,442,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,864,219. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 4.22. The company 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. The business's fifty day moving average price is $45.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.35. Fastenal Company has a twelve month low of $32.04 and a twelve month high of $50.60.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The company 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 business's revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be paid 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 yield of 1.7%. Fastenal's payout ratio is currently 84.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.21, for a total transaction of $951,760.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 10,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $460,780.32. This represents a 67.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total value of $1,662,414.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,230 shares of company stock worth $5,288,364 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on FAST shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded Fastenal from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $47.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Baird R W upgraded Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price target on Fastenal in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Northcoast Research started coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Thursday. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Finally, Loop Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fastenal currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.36.

About Fastenal

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.