Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Has $3.32 Million Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 149.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,147 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 27,616 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Fastenal were worth $3,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 6.9% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,170 shares of the company's stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in Fastenal by 56.0% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 3,999 shares of the company's stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435 shares during the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co boosted its stake in Fastenal by 5.4% in the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 6,412 shares of the company's stock worth $458,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the third quarter worth $2,038,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 5.1% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,243 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,374,000 after buying an additional 1,599 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.31, for a total value of $1,219,650.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at $487,616.07. The trade was a 71.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FAST has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. William Blair upgraded Fastenal from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Fastenal from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $79.10.

Fastenal Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Fastenal stock traded down $1.37 during trading on Friday, hitting $80.73. 3,196,449 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,094,554. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.67 and a quick ratio of 2.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $76.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.09. Fastenal has a 1-year low of $61.36 and a 1-year high of $84.88.

Fastenal's stock is set to split on Thursday, May 22nd. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, April 23rd. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Wednesday, May 21st.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.52. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. This is a boost from Fastenal's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio is presently 87.56%.

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.