PDS Planning Inc Purchases 4,286 Shares of Fastenal Company $FAST

PDS Planning Inc raised its position in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 122.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,790 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,286 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $327,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 107.2% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,822,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,565,000 after buying an additional 3,530,339 shares in the last quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 101.0% in the second quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 3,747,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,404,000 after buying an additional 1,883,419 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 8.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,753,864,000 after buying an additional 1,850,871 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the second quarter valued at approximately $73,733,000. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 97.5% in the second quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,280,009 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,760,000 after buying an additional 1,619,507 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FAST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stephens lifted their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price target on shares of Fastenal and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Wolfe Research reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. They set a “positive” rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Fastenal Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of FAST opened at $45.78 on Monday. Fastenal Company has a one year low of $35.31 and a one year high of $50.63. The company has a market cap of $52.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 0.94. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.94.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.62%.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In other news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total transaction of $333,000.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $583,747.98. This represents a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 10,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $460,780.32. This trade represents a 67.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,230 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,364 over the last three months. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.