TrinityPoint Wealth LLC Grows Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

TrinityPoint Wealth LLC increased its position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,113 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Fastenal by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,469,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $319,221,000 after acquiring an additional 48,977 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 24.1% in the third quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 18,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,577 shares during the last quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. increased its holdings in Fastenal by 73.0% during the 3rd quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. now owns 87,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,219,000 after purchasing an additional 36,742 shares during the period. KPP Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Fastenal by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in Fastenal by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 205,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,693,000 after purchasing an additional 36,673 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In related news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 45,744 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.14, for a total transaction of $3,116,996.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,489,266.52. This trade represents a 13.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP John Lewis Soderberg sold 488 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 254,033 shares of company stock valued at $19,240,434. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FAST. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.80.

Fastenal Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $81.80 on Tuesday. Fastenal has a one year low of $59.47 and a one year high of $84.88. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.70, a PEG ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.40 and a quick ratio of 2.29.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.30% and a net margin of 15.44%. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 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.