Brighton Jones LLC Purchases New Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $496,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,989,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,999,009,000 after buying an additional 1,346,863 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 5.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,683,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,188,251,000 after acquiring an additional 880,372 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 3.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,878,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,419,690,000 after acquiring an additional 608,596 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1,789.1% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 535,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,262,000 after purchasing an additional 507,364 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 59.3% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 928,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,305,000 after purchasing an additional 345,537 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Stephens lifted their target price on Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 31,818 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,168,521. The trade was a 10.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.92, for a total value of $1,970,441.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 74,660 shares of company stock worth $6,211,126. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $75.53 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $77.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.45. The company has a current ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Fastenal has a 1-year low of $61.36 and a 1-year high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.02). Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1,842,560.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.61%.

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.