Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Fastenal Company $FAST

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 98.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 71,384 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,389 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $2,998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 103.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 149,169,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,265,119,000 after acquiring an additional 75,852,223 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 103.4% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 45,995,937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,931,830,000 after purchasing an additional 23,380,022 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Fastenal by 103.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,984,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,506,141,000 after purchasing an additional 18,329,847 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Fastenal by 87.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 34,851,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,463,743,000 after acquiring an additional 16,308,254 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at $638,648,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Sarah N. Nielsen purchased 1,000 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $39.60 per share, with a total value of $39,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,000. This represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Hsenghung Sam Hsu purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $49.58 per share, with a total value of $49,580.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $495,800. This represents a 11.11% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have bought a total of 3,000 shares of company stock worth $131,630 in the last 90 days. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fastenal Stock Up 1.3%

FAST opened at $41.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.93 billion, a PE ratio of 39.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.26 and a quick ratio of 2.19. Fastenal Company has a fifty-two week low of $35.31 and a fifty-two week high of $50.63. The business has a 50-day moving average of $42.66 and a 200-day moving average of $44.37.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.69% and a net margin of 15.34%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 28th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is 82.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Fastenal from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Fastenal from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Northcoast Research assumed coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.32.

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.