Lincoln Capital LLC Increases Position in Fastenal Company $FAST

Key Points

• Lincoln Capital LLC has increased its holdings in Fastenal Company by 100%, bringing their total investment to $2.44 million.
• Insider trading activity has been notable, with CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski selling 21,052 shares and insider Jeffery Michael Watts selling 48,724 shares, representing significant decreases in their respective positions.
• Analysts have varying outlooks on Fastenal, with a mix of Hold, Buy, and Strong Buy ratings, and an average price target of $46.82.

Lincoln Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,966 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 28,983 shares during the period. Lincoln Capital LLC's holdings in Fastenal were worth $2,435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FAST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Baird R W raised shares of Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Loop Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird raised Fastenal from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $47.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price target on Fastenal in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Northcoast Research assumed coverage on Fastenal in a report on Thursday, August 21st. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.21, for a total transaction of $951,760.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 10,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $460,780.32. This represents a 67.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 111,230 shares of company stock worth $5,288,364. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fastenal Stock Up 0.8%

FAST traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $47.58. The company had a trading volume of 13,747,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,858,801. 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 price is $47.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.95. The company has a market capitalization of $54.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.75, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.97. 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 (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 32.33%. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio is 84.62%.

Fastenal Company 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.