Fastenal Company $FAST Shares Sold by Congress Asset Management Co.

Congress Asset Management Co. lessened its position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 2.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,024,675 shares of the company’s stock after selling 25,447 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $50,752,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,105,454,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Fastenal in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $859,310,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $410,919,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $239,279,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of Fastenal in the second quarter worth $230,169,000. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FAST. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Fastenal from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Friday, September 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In related news, Director Michael J. Ancius sold 3,000 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.00, for a total value of $147,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 58,690 shares in the company, valued at $2,875,810. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Rita Heise sold 34,964 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.05, for a total value of $1,749,948.20. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,001,000. This trade represents a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Fastenal Price Performance

NASDAQ FAST traded up $0.12 on Tuesday, reaching $50.81. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,706,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,809,485. Fastenal Company has a twelve month low of $38.97 and a twelve month high of $52.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 4.18. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $50.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.15. The stock has a market cap of $58.30 billion, a PE ratio of 43.06, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.69.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 14th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.33. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.45% and a return on equity of 34.03%. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fastenal Company will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 28th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 28th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.14%.

Fastenal Company Profile

Fastenal Company is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies serving businesses, contractors, manufacturers and other organizations. Its product offerings include fasteners such as bolts, nuts and screws, as well as safety equipment, tools, cutting tools, material-handling products, electrical and plumbing supplies, and maintenance and repair items.

The company sells products through a network of branch locations, onsite customer facilities, industrial vending machines and digital platforms.