Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Shares Acquired by Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lifted its position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,626,193 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,345 shares during the quarter. Fastenal comprises 2.2% of Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $116,143,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Fastenal in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Fastenal during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Fastenal by 528.4% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 509 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.68, for a total value of $3,484,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares in the company, valued at $19,929,734.24. This represents a 14.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,480 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. Insiders sold 208,289 shares of company stock worth $16,123,438 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $86.00 price objective (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fastenal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.80.

Fastenal Trading Up 0.9 %

FAST stock opened at $83.08 on Monday. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $59.47 and a 12-month high of $84.88. The business’s 50-day moving average is $76.26 and its 200 day moving average is $69.76. The company has a current ratio of 4.40, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $47.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.33, a PEG ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.99.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.30% and a net margin of 15.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 77.61%.

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.