Legacy Financial Strategies LLC Grows Position in Fastenal Company $FAST

Legacy Financial Strategies LLC increased its position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 108.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,356 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,567 shares during the quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $2,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 8.9% in 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 period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 7.5% in the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 181,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,074,000 after acquiring an additional 12,721 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 3.9% in the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 195,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,180,000 after acquiring an additional 7,400 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 21.5% in the first quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 35,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,712,000 after acquiring an additional 6,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 23.9% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,459,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,705,000 after acquiring an additional 473,987 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on FAST. Baird R W raised Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wolfe Research reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, July 14th. Robert W. Baird raised Fastenal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 target price on Fastenal and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 target price on Fastenal in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.82.

Fastenal Stock Up 0.2%

FAST stock opened at $47.22 on Friday. Fastenal Company has a 1-year low of $34.69 and a 1-year high of $50.63. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $47.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 2.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.40, a P/E/G ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.97.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.33% and a net margin of 15.30%.The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 29th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is 84.62%.

Insider Transactions at Fastenal

In related news, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.21, for a total transaction of $951,760.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 10,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $460,780.32. This represents a 67.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffery Michael Watts sold 48,724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider owned 11,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,834. This trade represents a 80.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,230 shares of company stock worth $5,288,364 in the last three months. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Fastenal

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.