Liberty Capital Management Inc. Purchases 61,540 Shares of Fastenal Company $FAST

Key Points

• Liberty Capital Management Inc. doubled its investment in Fastenal Company, acquiring an additional 61,540 shares, bringing its total holdings to 123,080 shares valued at approximately $5.17 million.
• Insider selling was reported, with CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski and EVP William Joseph Drazkowski significantly reducing their shares by 67.38% and 36.32%, respectively.
• Analysts upgraded Fastenal with varying price targets, indicating a positive outlook; however, the average rating remains at "Hold" with a consensus price target of $46.82.

Liberty Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 100.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,080 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 61,540 shares during the period. Liberty Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Fastenal were worth $5,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Patton Fund Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 2nd quarter worth $229,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,850,871 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 12,721 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 7,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 6,303 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.21, for a total value of $951,760.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 10,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $460,780.32. This trade represents a 67.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total value of $333,000.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,994 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $583,747.98. This trade represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 111,230 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,364. 0.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FAST. Baird R W upgraded Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Fastenal from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Fastenal from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price objective on Fastenal and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price objective on Fastenal in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.82.

Fastenal Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Fastenal stock opened at $49.04 on Wednesday. Fastenal Company has a 1 year low of $34.69 and a 1 year high of $50.63. The firm has a market cap of $56.28 billion, a PE ratio of 47.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $48.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.39. 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 announced its earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. The business's revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.

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