Confluence Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Confluence Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 1.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,716,128 shares of the company's stock after selling 17,256 shares during the quarter. Fastenal comprises about 1.6% of Confluence Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Confluence Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.30% of Fastenal worth $122,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FAST. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Fastenal by 3.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,909,206 shares of the company's stock worth $371,334,000 after buying an additional 193,734 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 66,130 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,420,659 shares of the company's stock valued at $277,794,000 after acquiring an additional 517,172 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Fastenal by 19.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,837,530 shares of the company's stock worth $241,161,000 after acquiring an additional 636,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Fastenal by 21.2% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,248,853 shares of the company's stock worth $250,617,000 after acquiring an additional 569,118 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FAST. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $86.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, October 14th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Seven investment 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 currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.33.

Fastenal Stock Up 0.3 %

FAST stock traded up $0.23 during trading on Friday, hitting $83.33. 3,031,724 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,335,485. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.46, a PEG ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.99. Fastenal has a 1 year low of $59.04 and a 1 year high of $84.05. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.70.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. Fastenal's payout ratio is currently 77.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP John Lewis Soderberg sold 488 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.32, for a total transaction of $37,244.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 45,744 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.14, for a total value of $3,116,996.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,489,266.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP John Lewis Soderberg sold 488 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were 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. Insiders sold a total of 190,261 shares of company stock worth $13,874,979 in the last 90 days. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.