Cypress Capital Group Purchases 4,844 Shares of Fastenal Company $FAST

Cypress Capital Group grew its position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 92.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,108 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,844 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $425,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FAST. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $496,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 11.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,694,000 after acquiring an additional 2,240 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 55.4% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 364,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,282,000 after acquiring an additional 130,071 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 7.2% in the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 23,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,820,000 after acquiring an additional 1,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 66.0% in the first quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 5,526 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FAST. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price target on shares of Fastenal and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Fastenal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $47.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Northcoast Research began coverage on shares of Fastenal in a report on Thursday, August 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other news, insider Jeffery Michael Watts sold 48,724 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 11,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $570,834. This trade represents a 80.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was 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. Insiders sold a total of 111,230 shares of company stock worth $5,288,364 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fastenal Price Performance

FAST opened at $42.33 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $48.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $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 52 week low of $35.31 and a 52 week high of $50.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.58 billion, a PE ratio of 40.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 28th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is currently 84.62%.

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.