Focus Partners Wealth Decreases Stock Holdings in Fastenal Company $FAST

Focus Partners Wealth decreased its holdings in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 56,644 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,686 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $4,393,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FAST. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at $496,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 140.4% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after acquiring an additional 8,821 shares during the period. Man Group plc boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 85.7% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 177,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,735,000 after acquiring an additional 81,739 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 90.2% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 390,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,092,000 after acquiring an additional 185,304 shares during the period. Finally, Tema Etfs LLC purchased a new position in Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,986,000. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on FAST shares. Northcoast Research started coverage on Fastenal in a report on Thursday, August 21st. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. 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. Robert W. Baird upgraded Fastenal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One equities 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.82.

Insider Transactions at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total transaction of $333,000.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $583,747.98. The trade was a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffery Michael Watts sold 48,724 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.05, for a total value of $2,341,188.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,834. This trade represents a 80.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 111,230 shares of company stock worth $5,288,364. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $47.45 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 4.22. Fastenal Company has a fifty-two week low of $34.67 and a fifty-two week high of $50.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.46 billion, a PE ratio of 45.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.61.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.33% and a net margin of 15.30%.The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.9%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 84.62%.

About Fastenal

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.