Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Fastenal Company $FAST

Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 72.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,905 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,905 shares during the quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FAST. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 107.2% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,822,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,565,000 after acquiring an additional 3,530,339 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 90.0% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 4,934,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,251,000 after acquiring an additional 2,337,187 shares during the last quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 101.0% during the 2nd quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 3,747,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,404,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,419 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,753,864,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 2nd quarter valued at about $73,733,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FAST. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Fastenal in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $53.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Fastenal and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.50.

Fastenal Price Performance

NASDAQ FAST opened at $43.32 on Wednesday. Fastenal Company has a 12 month low of $35.31 and a 12 month high of $50.63. The stock has a market cap of $49.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.49, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average is $47.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.10. The company has a current ratio of 4.26, a quick ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 13th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.01). Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.69% and a net margin of 15.34%.The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. Fastenal’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 28th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.24%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Hsenghung Sam Hsu acquired 1,000 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $42.45 per share, for a total transaction of $42,450.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $382,050. The trade was a 12.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 90,178 shares of company stock worth $4,336,603 in the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is currently 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.