Mather Group LLC. Lowers Stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Mather Group LLC. lowered its stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,418 shares of the company’s stock after selling 697 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Fastenal by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,909,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,334,000 after purchasing an additional 193,734 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Fastenal by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,665,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,179,000 after purchasing an additional 66,130 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Fastenal by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,420,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,794,000 after purchasing an additional 517,172 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Fastenal by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,837,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,161,000 after purchasing an additional 636,546 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Fastenal by 21.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,248,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,617,000 after purchasing an additional 569,118 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Trading Up 9.8 %

Shares of FAST opened at $76.82 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $68.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.22, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Fastenal has a 1-year low of $56.41 and a 1-year high of $79.04.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 33.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.61%.

Insider Transactions at Fastenal

In other news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 45,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.14, for a total transaction of $3,116,996.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,489,266.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Fastenal news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 45,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.14, for a total transaction of $3,116,996.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,489,266.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.68, for a total transaction of $3,484,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,929,734.24. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Friday, September 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $72.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.89.

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.