Fastenal Company $FAST Stock Sold by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA reduced its holdings in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 27.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 508,115 shares of the company’s stock after selling 195,596 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $25,167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FAST. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 9.8% in the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 36,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,790,000 after buying an additional 3,239 shares in the last quarter. Plancorp LLC lifted its position in shares of Fastenal by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 8,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 27.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 142,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,039,000 after acquiring an additional 30,222 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $471,000 after acquiring an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Liberty Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc. now owns 131,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,504,000 after acquiring an additional 3,473 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FAST. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Fastenal from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Argus upped their target price on Fastenal from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Fastenal from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Fastenal from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $47.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.46.

Fastenal Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $55.49 on Thursday. 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 one year low of $38.97 and a one year high of $55.62. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $50.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.66 billion, a PE ratio of 44.75, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.66.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.44 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 35.13% and a net margin of 15.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Fastenal Company will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 28th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 83.87%.

Fastenal Profile

Fastenal Company is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies, serving businesses that need products to maintain facilities, support production and complete building projects. Its offerings include fasteners such as screws, nuts and bolts, as well as safety supplies, tools and other maintenance, repair and operations products. In addition to product distribution, Fastenal provides services designed to help customers manage supplies and purchasing. These include inventory management, on-site support and industrial vending solutions that make frequently used items available at customer facilities.