Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Trims Holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lowered its holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 67.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,574 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,366 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Fastenal in the third quarter worth $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fastenal during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC raised its stake in Fastenal by 1,019.0% in the third quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 470 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Fastenal in the first quarter worth about $39,000. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FAST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Eight 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, Fastenal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.80.

Fastenal Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $83.08 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $47.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.33, a PEG ratio of 4.83 and a beta of 0.99. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $76.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.74. Fastenal has a 52 week low of $59.47 and a 52 week high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.30% and a net margin of 15.44%. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 31,818 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were 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 directly owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,168,521. The trade was a 10.01 % 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. Also, CFO Holden Lewis sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.52, for a total transaction of $2,295,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 9,881 shares in the company, valued at $756,094.12. This represents a 75.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 208,289 shares of company stock worth $16,123,438. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

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.