Bristlecone Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Fastenal Company $FAST

Bristlecone Advisors LLC increased its position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 100.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,764 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,882 shares during the period. Bristlecone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Fastenal by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,317,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,685,754,000 after buying an additional 1,016,479 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased 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 worth $1,753,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850,871 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Fastenal by 103.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,734,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,849,000 after buying an additional 4,950,503 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Fastenal by 94.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 9,298,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,517,000 after buying an additional 4,513,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Fastenal by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,418,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $652,875,000 after buying an additional 142,972 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FAST has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price objective on Fastenal and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Wolfe Research restated a “positive” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Fastenal from $53.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Baird R W raised shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Northcoast Research initiated coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fastenal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, Director Hsenghung Sam Hsu purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $42.45 per share, with a total value of $42,450.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 9,000 shares in the company, valued at $382,050. This trade represents a 12.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase 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 company’s 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 90,178 shares of company stock valued at $4,336,603 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Price Performance

NASDAQ FAST opened at $41.09 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 4.26, a quick ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.35. Fastenal Company has a 12-month low of $35.31 and a 12-month high of $50.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 28th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 28th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.24%.

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.