1832 Asset Management L.P. Acquires 543 Shares of Fastenal Company $FAST

1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 42,786 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $3,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Compound Planning Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 40.9% in the 1st quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 11,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $929,000 after acquiring an additional 3,477 shares during the last quarter. Norinchukin Bank The increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 5.4% in the first quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 350,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,150,000 after buying an additional 18,092 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 24.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,844,379 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,133,000 after buying an additional 762,759 shares during the period. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Fastenal in the first quarter worth $422,000. Finally, GDS Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 12.0% in the first quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 7,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $553,000 after buying an additional 766 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on FAST shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 target price on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Baird R W raised shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Fastenal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.36.

Fastenal Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of Fastenal stock opened at $50.39 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.38. The company has a market cap of $57.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.45, a PEG ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.95. Fastenal Company has a 12-month low of $32.04 and a 12-month high of $50.60.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 32.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 29th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 84.62%.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In other news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total value of $333,000.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $583,747.98. This represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was 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. Insiders sold a total of 111,230 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,364 in the last 90 days. 0.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.