Venturi Wealth Management LLC Raises Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,544 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 306 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $1,110,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FAST. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 737,833 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 636,546 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Fastenal in the second quarter valued at about $37,659,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Fastenal by 21.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,248,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,617,000 after buying an additional 569,118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 517,172 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FAST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $86.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted 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. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. 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 research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.33.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of FAST opened at $84.35 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $48.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 0.99. Fastenal has a fifty-two week low of $59.47 and a fifty-two week high of $84.88. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.71. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.30% and a net margin of 15.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 77.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fastenal news, EVP Anthony Paul Broersma sold 680 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.86, for a total transaction of $52,944.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 45,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was 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 owns 286,018 shares in the company, valued at $19,489,266.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Anthony Paul Broersma sold 680 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.86, for a total value of $52,944.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 190,261 shares of company stock worth $13,874,979. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

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.