Tobam Decreases Stock Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Tobam trimmed its position in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 23.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,447 shares of the company’s stock after selling 452 shares during the quarter. Tobam’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $104,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Fastenal by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 116,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,331,000 after purchasing an additional 7,559 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 61.5% during the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 1,972 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 10.1% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 20.6% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 788 shares during the period. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 77.0% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 20,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,452,000 after acquiring an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research increased their target price on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. HSBC cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.92, for a total transaction of $1,970,441.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 31,818 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was 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 directly owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,168,521. This represents a 10.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 63,772 shares of company stock worth $5,365,455 in the last 90 days. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fastenal Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $73.84 on Friday. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $61.36 and a 12-month high of $84.88. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.30 billion, a PE ratio of 36.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. Fastenal’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 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.