Advocate Group LLC Purchases 17,446 Shares of Fastenal Company $FAST

Advocate Group LLC grew its position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 94.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 35,942 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,446 shares during the quarter. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $1,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,016,479 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,850,871 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Fastenal by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,418,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $652,875,000 after purchasing an additional 142,972 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in Fastenal by 107.2% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,822,973 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,565,000 after purchasing an additional 3,530,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Fastenal by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,591,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $511,198,000 after purchasing an additional 168,830 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fastenal news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total transaction of $333,000.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $583,747.98. The trade was a 36.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total value of $1,662,414.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,230 shares of company stock worth $5,288,364 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST opened at $45.78 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $48.26 and a 200-day moving average of $43.91. The company has a market cap of $52.54 billion, a PE ratio of 44.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 0.94. Fastenal Company has a one year low of $35.31 and a one year high of $50.63.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.33% and a net margin of 15.30%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FAST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Fastenal from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Barclays began coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “positive” rating and a $49.00 target price for the company. Baird R W upgraded Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Fastenal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fastenal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

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.