Diversified Trust Co Invests $233,000 in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Diversified Trust Co acquired a new stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FAST. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 477.6% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 15,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $992,000 after buying an additional 13,061 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Fastenal by 284.8% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,619 shares of the company’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 4,899 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fastenal by 13.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 630,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,613,000 after acquiring an additional 75,957 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 131.3% in the second quarter. BOKF NA now owns 6,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $393,000 after acquiring an additional 3,553 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Fastenal by 22.6% in the second quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 12,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 2,330 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FAST. Jefferies Financial Group increased 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. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Fastenal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fastenal news, CAO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 13,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.19, for a total transaction of $1,033,669.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,096 shares in the company, valued at $388,264.24. This represents a 72.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP John Lewis Soderberg sold 488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.32, for a total value of $37,244.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 158,289 shares of company stock valued at $12,639,438 over the last quarter. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fastenal Stock Down 1.8 %

FAST opened at $71.63 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.60. Fastenal has a 52 week low of $61.36 and a 52 week high of $84.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.29, a current ratio of 4.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $41.04 billion, a PE ratio of 35.64, a P/E/G ratio of 4.64 and a beta of 1.02.

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

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.