18,475 Fastenal Company $FAST Shares Purchased by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 1.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,081,024 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 18,475 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $53,543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 86.5% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 5,804 shares during the last quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $777,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 26,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after acquiring an additional 884 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Capital Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capstone Capital Management Ltd now owns 19,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $987,000 after acquiring an additional 2,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fastenal during the third quarter worth $220,000. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FAST has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $55.00 price target on shares of Fastenal and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Fastenal in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Fastenal from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Argus raised their price target on Fastenal from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastenal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.46.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, Director Rita J. Heise sold 34,964 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.05, for a total transaction of $1,749,948.20. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,001,000. The trade was a 63.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael Ancius sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.00, for a total value of $147,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 58,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,875,810. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $52.49 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $50.31 and a 200-day moving average of $47.65. The firm has a market cap of $60.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 3.93, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Fastenal Company has a twelve month low of $38.97 and a twelve month high of $52.92.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.01. Fastenal had a return on equity of 35.13% and a net margin of 15.62%. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. Fastenal’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 28th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is currently 83.87%.

Fastenal Profile

Fastenal Company is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies headquartered in Winona, Minnesota. Founded in 1967, the company primarily serves businesses that require products for manufacturing, construction, maintenance, repair and operations.

Its product range includes threaded fasteners, bolts, nuts, screws, industrial and safety supplies, tools, electrical and plumbing products, material-handling equipment, and other related items. Fastenal also provides inventory-management solutions, including automated vending machines, customer-specific inventory programs and onsite services designed to improve product availability and purchasing efficiency.

Fastenal serves customers through a network of locations and sales channels across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and parts of Asia.