Fastenal Company $FAST Shares Acquired by Prairie Advisory LLC

Prairie Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 100.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,982 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,023 shares during the quarter. Prairie Advisory LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $990,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fastenal during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,105,454,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Fastenal in the second quarter worth $859,310,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Fastenal in the second quarter valued at $410,919,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Fastenal in the second quarter valued at $239,279,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in Fastenal during the 2nd quarter valued at $230,169,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on FAST. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $47.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Fastenal from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $55.00 price target on shares of Fastenal and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.83.

Fastenal Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:FAST traded up $0.30 on Monday, reaching $51.32. 2,152,417 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,889,360. The company has a current ratio of 3.93, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $58.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.38, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.69. Fastenal Company has a 12 month low of $38.97 and a 12 month high of $52.92. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.54.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.44 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.62% and a return on equity of 35.13%. The business’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Fastenal Company will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 28th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fastenal news, Director Michael J. Ancius sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.00, for a total transaction of $147,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 58,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,875,810. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rita Heise sold 34,964 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.05, for a total value of $1,749,948.20. Following the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,001,000. This represents a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fastenal Company Profile

Fastenal Company is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies headquartered in Winona, Minnesota. Founded in 1967, the company primarily serves businesses that require products for manufacturing, construction, maintenance, repair and operations.

Its product range includes threaded fasteners, bolts, nuts, screws, industrial and safety supplies, tools, electrical and plumbing products, material-handling equipment, and other related items. Fastenal also provides inventory-management solutions, including automated vending machines, customer-specific inventory programs and onsite services designed to improve product availability and purchasing efficiency.

Fastenal serves customers through a network of locations and sales channels across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and parts of Asia.