Fastenal Company $FAST Shares Bought by Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 100.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,850 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,925 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,317,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,685,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016,479 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 103.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,734,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,849,000 after purchasing an additional 4,950,503 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 94.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 9,298,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,517,000 after purchasing an additional 4,513,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,418,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $652,875,000 after purchasing an additional 142,972 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FAST. Baird R W raised shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Fastenal from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Northcoast Research began coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Fastenal from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.50.

Fastenal Price Performance

FAST opened at $41.04 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.39. The firm has a market cap of $47.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.36, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.94. Fastenal Company has a twelve month low of $35.31 and a twelve month high of $50.63. The company has a current ratio of 4.26, a quick ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 13th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.34% and a return on equity of 32.69%. Fastenal’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Investors 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.24%.

Insider Activity

In other Fastenal news, insider Jeffery Michael Watts sold 48,724 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the firm’s 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 is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 90,178 shares of company stock valued at $4,336,603 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Company 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.