Fulton Bank N.A. Boosts Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 30,587 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 314 shares during the quarter. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $2,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in Fastenal by 477.6% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 15,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $992,000 after purchasing an additional 13,061 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in Fastenal by 41.4% during the 2nd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 12,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $803,000 after acquiring an additional 3,739 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 284.8% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $416,000 after acquiring an additional 4,899 shares during the period. Prudential PLC grew its position in Fastenal by 184.7% in the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 47,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,003,000 after acquiring an additional 31,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 106.9% during the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 22,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,421,000 after purchasing an additional 11,816 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. HSBC downgraded 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. Hsbc Global Res cut Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Stephens raised their price objective on Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fastenal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.40.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of FAST opened at $72.94 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $41.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 4.64 and a beta of 1.02. Fastenal has a 52 week low of $61.33 and a 52 week high of $84.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $78.84 and a 200-day moving average of $72.49.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 33.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 13,567 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.19, for a total value of $1,033,669.73. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,096 shares in the company, valued at $388,264.24. This trade represents a 72.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 31,818 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.50, for a total transaction of $2,688,621.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,168,521. This trade represents a 10.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 158,289 shares of company stock worth $12,639,438 over the last quarter. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Fastenal

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.