Avestar Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 2,862 Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Avestar Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 4,008.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 756,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,522,000 after purchasing an additional 737,833 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake 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 valued at $241,161,000 after purchasing an additional 636,546 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,419,690,000 after purchasing an additional 608,596 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fastenal in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,659,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 13.2% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,420,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,794,000 after purchasing an additional 517,172 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of Fastenal stock opened at $83.71 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.65, a PEG ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 0.99. Fastenal has a 12 month low of $59.47 and a 12 month high of $84.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.40 and a quick ratio of 2.29.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 33.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Fastenal news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,480 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.92, for a total value of $1,970,441.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was 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 approximately $19,929,734.24. This trade represents a 14.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 208,289 shares of company stock valued at $16,123,438 in the last ninety days. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FAST has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America initiated 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target 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. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.