Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Holdings Lifted by Procyon Advisors LLC

Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,367 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 874 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of FAST. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 45,154,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,435,637,000 after purchasing an additional 138,257 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,830,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $751,780,000 after purchasing an additional 423,112 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,676,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $736,259,000 after purchasing an additional 117,040 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,092,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $430,243,000 after purchasing an additional 2,492,722 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,502,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $445,642,000 after purchasing an additional 41,898 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Reyne K. Wisecup sold 34,042 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total transaction of $2,331,196.16. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,369,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Fastenal news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 11,076 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $832,472.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Reyne K. Wisecup sold 34,042 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total value of $2,331,196.16. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,369,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 105,682 shares of company stock valued at $7,375,853. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Fastenal from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.50.

Fastenal Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of FAST traded up $0.89 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $78.17. 550,583 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,909,086. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $50.30 and a 12-month high of $79.04. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.09. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 4.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market cap of $44.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.05.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 15.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 31st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.23%.

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.