Fastenal Company $FAST Shares Acquired by Cim LLC

Cim LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 7.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 29,382 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,956 shares during the quarter. Cim LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $2,279,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,317,271 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,685,754,000 after buying an additional 1,016,479 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 1,850,871 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1.7% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,418,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $652,875,000 after buying an additional 142,972 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,018,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $504,703,000 after buying an additional 116,866 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 2.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,591,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $511,198,000 after buying an additional 168,830 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on FAST shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Loop Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.82.

Fastenal Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of Fastenal stock opened at $47.33 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.47. The company has a market cap of $54.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.97. Fastenal Company has a fifty-two week low of $34.39 and a fifty-two week high of $50.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 4.22.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 32.33%. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Fastenal news, insider Jeffery Michael Watts sold 48,724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.05, for a total value of $2,341,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 11,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,834. This represents a 80.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.21, for a total transaction of $951,760.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $460,780.32. This represents a 67.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 111,230 shares of company stock worth $5,288,364. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.