Fastenal Company $FAST Shares Acquired by Riverbridge Partners LLC

Riverbridge Partners LLC grew its position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 95.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,617,934 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,275,815 shares during the quarter. Fastenal accounts for 1.8% of Riverbridge Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Riverbridge Partners LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $109,953,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Postrock Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 100.1% in the second quarter. Postrock Partners LLC now owns 338,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,226,000 after buying an additional 169,429 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 126.5% in the second quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 1,423 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 112.2% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 4,108 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 115.5% in the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 717,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,130,000 after buying an additional 384,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sara Bay Financial grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 94.4% in the second quarter. Sara Bay Financial now owns 22,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $927,000 after buying an additional 10,719 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FAST has been the subject of a number of research reports. Baird R W raised Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Fastenal from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Wolfe Research reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 target price on Fastenal and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Fastenal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.82.

Fastenal Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $47.54 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.07. The stock has a market cap of $54.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.71, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.97. Fastenal Company has a 1 year low of $34.69 and a 1 year high of $50.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 4.22.

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

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 84.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total transaction of $333,000.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $583,747.98. This represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.21, for a total value of $951,760.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $460,780.32. This represents a 67.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 111,230 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,364. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Fastenal

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.