Fastenal Company $FAST Stock Bought by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al grew its position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 44.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,643,034 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 502,200 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $81,379,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Fastenal during the 2nd quarter worth $5,105,454,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Fastenal during the second quarter worth about $859,310,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Fastenal in the second quarter valued at about $410,919,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Fastenal in the second quarter valued at about $239,279,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Fastenal in the second quarter valued at about $230,169,000. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on FAST shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Fastenal from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays cut their price objective on Fastenal from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Argus boosted their price objective on Fastenal from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Fastenal from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $55.00 target price on Fastenal and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.46.

Fastenal Trading Down 1.2%

FAST opened at $51.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.69. Fastenal Company has a 12 month low of $38.97 and a 12 month high of $53.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.19. The company has a current ratio of 3.93, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.44 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.62% and a return on equity of 35.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fastenal Company will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 28th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 83.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other news, Director Rita J. Heise sold 34,964 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.05, for a total transaction of $1,749,948.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,001,000. This represents a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fastenal Profile

Fastenal Company is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies headquartered in Winona, Minnesota. Founded in 1967, the company primarily serves businesses that require products for manufacturing, construction, maintenance, repair and operations.

Its product range includes threaded fasteners, bolts, nuts, screws, industrial and safety supplies, tools, electrical and plumbing products, material-handling equipment, and other related items. Fastenal also provides inventory-management solutions, including automated vending machines, customer-specific inventory programs and onsite services designed to improve product availability and purchasing efficiency.

Fastenal serves customers through a network of locations and sales channels across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and parts of Asia.