West Tower Group LLC Acquires Shares of 4,000 Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $286,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 3.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,878,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,419,690,000 after purchasing an additional 608,596 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 193,734 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.4% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,665,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,179,000 after purchasing an additional 66,130 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.1% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,469,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $319,221,000 after purchasing an additional 48,977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 636,546 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Anthony Paul Broersma sold 680 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.86, for a total value of $52,944.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP John Lewis Soderberg sold 488 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.32, for a total transaction of $37,244.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 208,289 shares of company stock worth $16,123,438 over the last 90 days. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Fastenal Stock Performance

FAST stock opened at $83.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $47.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.67, a PEG ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.87. Fastenal has a one year low of $59.47 and a one year high of $84.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a current ratio of 4.40.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 33.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FAST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently 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.