Annex Advisory Services LLC Grows Stock Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,537 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $398,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Fastenal by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,989,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,999,009,000 after buying an additional 1,346,863 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Fastenal by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,878,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,419,690,000 after acquiring an additional 608,596 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Fastenal by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,683,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,188,251,000 after acquiring an additional 880,372 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Fastenal by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,909,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,334,000 after acquiring an additional 193,734 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Fastenal by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,718,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,974,000 after acquiring an additional 226,126 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, Director Rita J. Heise sold 10,888 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.67, for a total value of $845,670.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,553,400. This trade represents a 35.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 31,818 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.50, for a total value of $2,688,621.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,168,521. This trade represents a 10.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 74,660 shares of company stock worth $6,211,126. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Stephens upped their price objective on Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Fastenal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, HSBC downgraded Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.27.

Fastenal Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $76.08 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.40 and a quick ratio of 2.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.02. Fastenal has a 1-year low of $61.36 and a 1-year high of $84.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $77.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.07.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1,842,560.16 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.30% and a net margin of 15.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.57%.

Fastenal 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.