West Bancorporation Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Fastenal Company $FAST

West Bancorporation Inc. raised its position in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 98.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,670 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,291 shares during the quarter. West Bancorporation Inc.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $448,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Conning Inc. grew its stake in Fastenal by 92.7% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 7,772 shares of the company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 3,739 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at about $57,000. JNBA Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 79.8% in the 2nd quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 9,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,000 after buying an additional 4,010 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 64.8% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 6,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,000 after buying an additional 2,649 shares during the period. Finally, Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 653.9% in the 2nd quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC now owns 27,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after buying an additional 23,522 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total transaction of $1,662,414.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total value of $333,000.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 11,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $583,747.98. This trade represents a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,230 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,364 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Performance

NASDAQ FAST opened at $45.78 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.02, a PEG ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.94. Fastenal Company has a twelve month low of $35.31 and a twelve month high of $50.63. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $48.26 and a 200 day moving average of $43.87.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.33% and a net margin of 15.30%.Fastenal’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price objective on Fastenal and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Wednesday. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price objective on Fastenal in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Fastenal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

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.