Annex Advisory Services LLC Acquires 1,529 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Annex Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 40.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,265 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,529 shares during the quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. lifted its stake in Fastenal by 1.1% in the first quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 13,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Sara Bay Financial lifted its stake in Fastenal by 1.3% in the second quarter. Sara Bay Financial now owns 11,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $746,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Fastenal by 1.4% in the second quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Team Hewins LLC lifted its stake in Fastenal by 4.8% in the first quarter. Team Hewins LLC now owns 3,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Fastenal by 2.0% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 8,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $630,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.68, for a total transaction of $3,484,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,929,734.24. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.68, for a total transaction of $3,484,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,929,734.24. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 45,744 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.14, for a total transaction of $3,116,996.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,489,266.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST stock opened at $76.82 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $43.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.22, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day moving average is $68.77 and its 200 day moving average is $67.89. The company has a quick ratio of 2.29, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Fastenal has a 52-week low of $56.41 and a 52-week high of $79.04.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.52. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 33.54%. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on FAST shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price (down from $85.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Friday, September 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.89.

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.