LeConte Wealth Management LLC Buys New Shares in Fastenal Company $FAST

LeConte Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 6,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $293,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in Fastenal by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 49,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,817,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC grew its stake in Fastenal by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 32,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,559,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in Fastenal by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 15,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Fastenal by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 8,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $688,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on FAST shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Stephens increased their price objective 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. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wolfe Research reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Fastenal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. One 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.82.

Fastenal Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ FAST opened at $47.54 on Thursday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $47.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.07. The company has a market capitalization of $54.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.97. Fastenal Company has a 12 month low of $34.69 and a 12 month high of $50.63.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for 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 last year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.62%.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In related news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total value of $333,000.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $583,747.98. This trade represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 111,230 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,364. Corporate 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.