HighMark Wealth Management LLC Grows Holdings in Fastenal Company $FAST

HighMark Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 106.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,287 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,207 shares during the quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $180,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FAST. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter worth about $496,000. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in Fastenal by 174,400.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in Fastenal in the first quarter valued at about $237,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its stake in Fastenal by 28.5% during the first quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 3,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salvus Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Fastenal by 1.6% during the first quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $698,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total value of $1,662,414.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffery Michael Watts sold 48,724 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.05, for a total transaction of $2,341,188.20. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 111,230 shares of company stock worth $5,288,364. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Price Performance

NASDAQ FAST opened at $48.17 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $48.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.49. Fastenal Company has a 52 week low of $34.69 and a 52 week high of $50.63. The stock has a market cap of $55.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.33% and a net margin of 15.30%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders 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 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 29th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 84.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FAST shares. Baird R W upgraded Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Fastenal from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Fastenal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.82.

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.