Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 7,774 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 7.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,097 shares of the company's stock after selling 7,774 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Fastenal were worth $7,292,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 84.5% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,735 shares of the company's stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 1,253 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 10.2% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 84,534 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,520,000 after buying an additional 7,796 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the first quarter valued at approximately $340,000. Wellington Wealth Strategies LLC. bought a new stake in Fastenal in the first quarter worth $265,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Fastenal by 7.6% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,112 shares of the company's stock worth $626,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Fastenal news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,480 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.92, for a total transaction of $1,970,441.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider William Joseph Drazkowski sold 16,362 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.65, for a total value of $1,270,509.30. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,667.05. This trade represents a 73.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 208,289 shares of company stock worth $16,123,438. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FAST has been the topic of several research reports. 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 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and set a $86.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group began coverage on Fastenal in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $88.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $74.80.

Fastenal Price Performance

FAST stock traded up $0.81 on Thursday, reaching $82.63. 349,125 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,288,835. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $75.74 and a 200-day moving average of $69.51. Fastenal has a twelve month low of $59.47 and a twelve month high of $84.88. The firm has a market cap of $47.34 billion, a PE ratio of 40.71, a P/E/G ratio of 4.78 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.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (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 in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.