Gilbert & Cook Inc. Sells 441 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Gilbert & Cook Inc. decreased its position in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,486 shares of the company’s stock after selling 441 shares during the quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,909,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,334,000 after acquiring an additional 193,734 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,665,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,179,000 after acquiring an additional 66,130 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,469,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $319,221,000 after acquiring an additional 48,977 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,837,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,161,000 after acquiring an additional 636,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 3,190,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,506,000 after acquiring an additional 91,411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FAST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 price target (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Stephens boosted 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fastenal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fastenal news, CAO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 13,567 shares of the company’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 value of $1,033,669.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $388,264.24. This represents a 72.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 45,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.14, for a total value of $3,116,996.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,489,266.52. This trade represents a 13.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,033 shares of company stock valued at $19,240,434 over the last quarter. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fastenal Stock Down 0.4 %

FAST stock opened at $81.85 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 4.40, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company’s 50 day moving average is $74.96 and its 200 day moving average is $69.24. The stock has a market cap of $46.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 0.99. Fastenal has a 1-year low of $59.47 and a 1-year high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. The company 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%. Fastenal’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.61%.

About Fastenal

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.