Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Makes New Investment in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 479 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Fastenal by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 7,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $467,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Bank increased its holdings in Fastenal by 3.1% in the third quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Fastenal by 1.1% in the third quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Fastenal by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Fastenal

In other news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 11,076 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $832,472.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 11,076 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $832,472.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Daniel L. Johnson acquired 3,350 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $68.38 per share, with a total value of $229,073.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $724,486.10. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 36,082 shares of company stock valued at $2,584,060 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $67.74 on Thursday. Fastenal has a 1 year low of $52.28 and a 1 year high of $79.04. The company has a current ratio of 4.83, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market cap of $38.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.53, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $73.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.64.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.68% and a return on equity of 33.98%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 25th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 24th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FAST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC upped their price objective on Fastenal from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Fastenal from $71.00 to $66.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Fastenal from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.67.

About Fastenal

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.