Cardinal Strategic Wealth Guidance Takes $295,000 Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Cardinal Strategic Wealth Guidance bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $485,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. grew its stake in Fastenal by 32.0% in the fourth quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 8,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $618,000 after purchasing an additional 2,083 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in Fastenal in the fourth quarter worth $209,000. Finally, Panoramic Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at $200,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, Director Daniel L. Johnson sold 8,474 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.36, for a total value of $706,392.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,595 shares in the company, valued at $883,199.20. This represents a 44.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.92, for a total value of $1,970,441.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FAST. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. HSBC downgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fastenal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FAST opened at $73.72 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 4.67. The firm has a market cap of $42.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.02. Fastenal has a fifty-two week low of $61.36 and a fifty-two week high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). Fastenal had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is 85.57%.

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.