ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd Grows Stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd lifted its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,475 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,186 shares during the quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Fastenal in the third quarter worth about $310,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 499.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 132,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,186,000 after acquiring an additional 110,027 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new position in Fastenal in the 1st quarter worth approximately $11,212,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Fastenal by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 210,998 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,259,000 after acquiring an additional 11,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peak Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Fastenal during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,643,000. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.80.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $83.62 on Thursday. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $59.47 and a 12-month high of $84.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 4.40, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $73.94 and a 200 day moving average of $68.93.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 33.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 77.61%.

Insider Transactions at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, VP John Lewis Soderberg sold 488 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.32, for a total transaction of $37,244.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP John Lewis Soderberg sold 488 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.32, for a total value of $37,244.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 45,744 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.14, for a total transaction of $3,116,996.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 286,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,489,266.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 222,079 shares of company stock valued at $16,563,600 over the last quarter. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.