Jump Financial LLC Sells 5,871 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Jump Financial LLC lowered its stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 32.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,283 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,871 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC's holdings in Fastenal were worth $883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Fastenal during the 4th quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, Eastern Bank increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 440.7% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 984 shares of the company's stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FAST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stephens boosted their target price on Fastenal from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wolfe Research raised Fastenal from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. William Blair raised shares of Fastenal from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $79.10.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In related news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.31, for a total transaction of $1,219,650.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at $487,616.07. The trade was a 71.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fastenal Trading Down 1.7 %

Fastenal stock traded down $1.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $80.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,196,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,091,855. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $76.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.67 and a quick ratio of 2.28. Fastenal has a 12 month low of $61.36 and a 12 month high of $84.88. The stock has a market cap of $46.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05.

Shares of Fastenal are scheduled to split on the morning of Thursday, May 22nd. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, April 23rd. The newly created shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Wednesday, May 21st.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.52. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. Fastenal's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. This is an increase from Fastenal's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 25th. Fastenal's payout ratio is presently 87.56%.

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.