Apollon Wealth Management LLC Has $1.61 Million Holdings in Fastenal Company $FAST

Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 97.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,317 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,945 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $1,609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new position in Fastenal during the 2nd quarter valued at $229,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Fastenal by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,753,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850,871 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its stake in Fastenal by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 181,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,074,000 after purchasing an additional 12,721 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its stake in Fastenal by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 195,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,180,000 after purchasing an additional 7,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG raised its stake in Fastenal by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 35,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,712,000 after purchasing an additional 6,303 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FAST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. They issued a “positive” rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research restated a “positive” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

Fastenal Stock Down 7.5%

FAST opened at $42.33 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 4.22. Fastenal Company has a twelve month low of $35.31 and a twelve month high of $50.63. The firm has a market cap of $48.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.70, a PEG ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 0.94.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 13th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.01). Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.33% and a net margin of 15.30%.The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 28th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 28th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.62%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.21, for a total value of $951,760.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,192 shares in the company, valued at $460,780.32. This trade represents a 67.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 111,230 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,364. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

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.