Fastenal Company $FAST Holdings Raised by Carnegie Investment Counsel

Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its stake in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 99.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,879 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,936 shares during the quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Fastenal by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,317,271 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,685,754,000 after buying an additional 1,016,479 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Fastenal by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,753,864,000 after buying an additional 1,850,871 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 94.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 9,298,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,517,000 after purchasing an additional 4,513,985 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,418,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $652,875,000 after purchasing an additional 142,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL raised 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 purchasing an additional 3,530,339 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on FAST shares. Baird R W upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays set a $45.00 price target on shares of Fastenal and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Stephens raised their price target 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. Wolfe Research reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 target price on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffery Michael Watts sold 48,724 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.05, for a total transaction of $2,341,188.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $570,834. The trade was a 80.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 90,178 shares of company stock valued at $4,336,603 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fastenal Stock Performance

NASDAQ FAST opened at $42.87 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.26 and a quick ratio of 2.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average is $47.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.29. Fastenal Company has a 52-week low of $35.31 and a 52-week high of $50.63.

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

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 28th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.24%.

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.