Bernicke Wealth Management Ltd. Purchases New Shares in Fastenal Company $FAST

Bernicke Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 26,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,289,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Fastenal during the second quarter valued at $5,105,454,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Fastenal by 1.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,438,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,710,764,000 after purchasing an additional 869,793 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Fastenal during the second quarter valued at about $859,310,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Fastenal by 12.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,292,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $755,969,000 after buying an additional 1,744,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Fastenal by 1.2% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,561,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $747,395,000 after buying an additional 183,238 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson set a $51.00 price objective on Fastenal and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Argus boosted their price objective on Fastenal from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $47.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Fastenal in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Fastenal from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.46.

Fastenal Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of FAST stock opened at $55.19 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.71. Fastenal Company has a 52 week low of $38.97 and a 52 week high of $56.27. The stock has a market cap of $63.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.51, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 3.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.44 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 35.13% and a net margin of 15.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Fastenal Company will post 1.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 83.87%.

About Fastenal

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.