Petredis Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 82,656 Shares of Fastenal Company $FAST

Key Points

• Petredis Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Fastenal Company by 100.9%, acquiring an additional 82,656 shares, bringing its total to 164,562 shares valued at approximately $6.91 million.
• Fastenal reported earnings of $0.29 per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates by $0.01, with revenues of $2.08 billion, an increase of 8.6% year-over-year.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.8% and a current payout ratio of 84.62%.

Petredis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 100.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 164,562 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 82,656 shares during the period. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Fastenal were worth $6,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 8.9% in 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 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% during the 1st quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 181,482 shares of the company's stock worth $14,074,000 after buying an additional 12,721 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 3.9% during 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 during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG raised its stake 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 raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 23.9% in the 1st 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 currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FAST shares. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 target price on shares of Fastenal and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Robert W. Baird upgraded Fastenal from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $47.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Northcoast Research assumed coverage on Fastenal in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price objective on Fastenal in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. One investment 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastenal has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total transaction of $1,662,414.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,230 shares of company stock worth $5,288,364 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Fastenal Stock Performance

NASDAQ FAST traded down $0.46 on Monday, hitting $47.12. 5,785,110 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,551,939. Fastenal Company has a 1-year low of $34.69 and a 1-year high of $50.63. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.08 billion, a PE ratio of 45.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.97. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $47.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.00.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.33% and a net margin of 15.30%.The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th were paid 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 1.9%. Fastenal's payout ratio is 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.