Fastenal Company $FAST Shares Acquired by Aberdeen Group plc

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc significantly increased its stake in Fastenal Company by 235.7%, owning over 766,000 shares valued at approximately $58.9 million.
• Fastenal recently reported a Q2 earnings per share (EPS) of $0.29, exceeding expectations by $0.01, with revenues of $2.08 billion.
• Multiple analysts have recently upgraded their ratings on Fastenal, with Baird R W raising its rating from "hold" to "strong-buy."

Aberdeen Group plc grew its stake in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 235.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 766,678 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 538,303 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.13% of Fastenal worth $58,885,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,317,271 shares of the company's stock worth $5,685,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016,479 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Fastenal by 8.9% in the first 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 period. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Fastenal by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,275,793 shares of the company's stock worth $595,112,000 after buying an additional 74,903 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,322,739 shares of the company's stock valued at $526,578,000 after purchasing an additional 966,629 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,018,546 shares of the company's stock valued at $504,703,000 after purchasing an additional 116,866 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Fastenal stock traded down $0.2350 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $49.6650. 3,557,512 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,600,807. The company has a market capitalization of $57.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.95. Fastenal Company has a fifty-two week low of $32.04 and a fifty-two week high of $50.06. The firm's fifty day moving average is $44.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 2.12.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 32.33%. The firm's revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 29th. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other news, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $460,780.32. This trade represents a 67.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total transaction of $1,662,414.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 111,230 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,364. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FAST has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 target price on shares of Fastenal in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Wolfe Research reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, July 14th. Baird R W raised shares of Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Loop Capital reissued 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 given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fastenal presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.36.

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.