eCIO Inc. Purchases New Position in Fastenal Company $FAST

eCIO Inc. purchased a new position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FAST. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Fastenal by 5,330.0% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 533 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in Fastenal in the 1st quarter worth $49,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Fastenal during the first quarter worth $57,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Fastenal by 5,661.5% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fastenal news, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total value of $1,662,414.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jeffery Michael Watts sold 48,724 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.05, for a total value of $2,341,188.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 11,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,834. This represents a 80.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 111,230 shares of company stock worth $5,288,364 in the last three months. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised shares of 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. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price objective on Fastenal in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Baird R W raised Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Fastenal from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fastenal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.82.

Fastenal Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of FAST opened at $47.33 on Friday. Fastenal Company has a 12-month low of $34.39 and a 12-month high of $50.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $47.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.47. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 32.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

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

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.