Wedmont Private Capital Increases Stock Position in Fastenal Company $FAST

Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 108.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,004 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 9,360 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $781,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 8.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,753,864,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850,871 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in Fastenal by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 181,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,074,000 after buying an additional 12,721 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its holdings in Fastenal by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 195,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,180,000 after acquiring an additional 7,400 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG boosted its stake in Fastenal by 21.5% in the 1st quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 35,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,712,000 after purchasing an additional 6,303 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 23.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,459,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,705,000 after acquiring an additional 473,987 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fastenal news, insider Jeffery Michael Watts sold 48,724 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 11,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,834. The trade was a 80.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,230 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,364 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on FAST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Fastenal from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Stephens upped their target price on Fastenal from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price target on Fastenal and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Northcoast Research began coverage on Fastenal in a report on Thursday, August 21st. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price target on Fastenal in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.82.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $47.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $54.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.75, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 4.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $47.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.89. Fastenal Company has a 1 year low of $34.69 and a 1 year high of $50.63.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.33% and a net margin of 15.30%.The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.62%.

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.