HighTower Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Fastenal Company $FAST

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 340,317 shares of the company's stock after selling 23,391 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Fastenal were worth $16,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at $54,794,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 4,689.6% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 84,371,948 shares of the company's stock worth $4,052,385,000 after purchasing an additional 82,610,391 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in Fastenal by 1.5% in the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 35,658 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,658,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. Kintra Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Fastenal by 22.7% in the second quarter. Kintra Wealth LLC now owns 5,376 shares of the company's stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Saudi Central Bank raised its stake in Fastenal by 89.7% in the second quarter. Saudi Central Bank now owns 80,382 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,861,000 after buying an additional 38,007 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Fastenal news, Director Michael J. Ancius sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.00, for a total transaction of $147,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 58,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,875,810. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Rita Heise sold 34,964 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.05, for a total value of $1,749,948.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,001,000. This trade represents a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FAST shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on Fastenal from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Fastenal in a report on Friday, August 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Fastenal and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Fastenal from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $49.17.

Fastenal Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of FAST stock opened at $48.79 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $55.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 4.18, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business's 50 day moving average is $48.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.66. Fastenal Company has a twelve month low of $38.97 and a twelve month high of $52.92.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.33. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 34.03% and a net margin of 15.45%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 28th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is a positive change from Fastenal's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 28th. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.14%.

Fastenal Profile

Fastenal Company NASDAQ: FAST is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies. The company provides fasteners such as bolts, nuts, screws and related hardware, along with safety products, tools, material-handling equipment, welding supplies, janitorial products and other maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) materials.

Fastenal serves manufacturers, construction companies, contractors, government organizations and other commercial customers. Its offerings are delivered through a network of branch locations, customer-specific onsite operations, industrial vending machines, e-commerce platforms and other supply-chain services designed to help customers manage inventory and reduce procurement time.

Founded in 1967 by Bob Kierlin in Winona, Minnesota, Fastenal has expanded from a regional fastener supplier into an international industrial distributor.

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