Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Position Reduced by Check Capital Management Inc. CA

Check Capital Management Inc. CA lessened its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 23.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,960 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the period. Check Capital Management Inc. CA’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $256,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its stake in Fastenal by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 7,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $467,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Bank lifted its stake in Fastenal by 3.1% during the third quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $873,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Fastenal by 3.8% during 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on FAST shares. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Fastenal from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Fastenal from $71.00 to $66.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fastenal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider William Joseph Drazkowski sold 11,968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total transaction of $826,988.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $414,392.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider William Joseph Drazkowski sold 11,968 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total transaction of $826,988.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $414,392.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel L. Johnson purchased 3,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $68.38 per share, with a total value of $229,073.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $724,486.10. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 71,640 shares of company stock worth $5,044,657. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fastenal Stock Performance

FAST stock traded up $0.07 on Friday, reaching $67.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,785,030 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,064,631. Fastenal has a 52 week low of $52.28 and a 52 week high of $79.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 4.83 and a quick ratio of 2.49. The company has a market capitalization of $38.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $73.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.21.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.01). Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.98% and a net margin of 15.68%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Fastenal will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 25th will be paid 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 yield of 2.31%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 77.23%.

Fastenal 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.