E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Raises Position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 95.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,092 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,857 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $1,248,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 19.4% in the first quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the period. S Bank Fund Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the first quarter worth approximately $911,000. National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 11.1% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 745,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,843,000 after acquiring an additional 74,688 shares during the period. Thomas Story & Son LLC grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 2.7% in the first quarter. Thomas Story & Son LLC now owns 83,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,475,000 after acquiring an additional 2,175 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 29.7% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 564,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,664,000 after acquiring an additional 129,254 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.21, for a total transaction of $951,760.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 10,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $460,780.32. This represents a 67.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total transaction of $1,662,414.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 137,112 shares of company stock worth $6,304,410. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on FAST shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price target on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 target price on shares of Fastenal and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on shares of Fastenal from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.36.

Fastenal Stock Performance

FAST opened at $49.21 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $56.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.32, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.95. Fastenal Company has a 1-year low of $32.04 and a 1-year high of $49.26. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 2.12.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 32.33%. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 84.62%.

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.