Crews Bank & Trust Invests $74,000 in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Fastenal during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Fastenal in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 1,019.0% in the 3rd quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new position in Fastenal during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 533 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other 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 transaction of $1,970,441.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Daniel L. Johnson sold 8,474 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.36, for a total value of $706,392.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $883,199.20. This trade represents a 44.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 63,772 shares of company stock worth $5,365,455 in the last 90 days. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FAST. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Stephens boosted their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $73.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.67 and a quick ratio of 2.28. The company has a market cap of $41.96 billion, a PE ratio of 36.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.68. Fastenal has a 12 month low of $61.36 and a 12 month high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.