American Financial Advisors LLC Takes Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

American Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 3,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Fastenal by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 45,154,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,435,637,000 after buying an additional 138,257 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Fastenal by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,830,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $751,780,000 after buying an additional 423,112 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Fastenal by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,676,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $736,259,000 after buying an additional 117,040 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Fastenal by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,092,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,243,000 after buying an additional 2,492,722 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Fastenal by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,502,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,642,000 after buying an additional 41,898 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on FAST. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Fastenal from $71.00 to $66.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Fastenal from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Fastenal from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastenal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.67.

Fastenal Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Fastenal stock opened at $67.57 on Friday. Fastenal has a 1 year low of $52.28 and a 1 year high of $79.04. The stock has a market cap of $38.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.45, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 4.83 and a quick ratio of 2.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $73.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.29.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.01). Fastenal had a net margin of 15.68% and a return on equity of 33.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 25th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 24th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider William Joseph Drazkowski sold 11,968 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total value of $826,988.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $414,392.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider William Joseph Drazkowski sold 11,968 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total value of $826,988.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $414,392.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,590 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.25, for a total transaction of $1,633,607.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 71,640 shares of company stock worth $5,044,657. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Company Profile

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.