Cerity Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 197,825 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,771 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $14,129,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FAST. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Fastenal by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 23,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,826,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 908,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,046,000 after buying an additional 4,967 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 170,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,142,000 after buying an additional 10,915 shares during the period. Finally, Hancock Whitney Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the first quarter valued at approximately $689,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FAST opened at $83.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.67, a P/E/G ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.87. Fastenal has a 52-week low of $59.47 and a 52-week high of $84.88. 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) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 33.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is currently 77.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.68, for a total transaction of $3,484,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares in the company, valued at $19,929,734.24. This represents a 14.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 13,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.19, for a total transaction of $1,033,669.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,096 shares in the company, valued at $388,264.24. This represents a 72.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 208,289 shares of company stock worth $16,123,438. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on FAST shares. UBS Group assumed coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.80.

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.