Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 4,346 Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $310,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in Fastenal in the first quarter worth $1,105,000. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 6.4% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Fastenal by 49.4% during the 1st quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Fastenal by 41.3% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 13,683 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,056,000 after purchasing an additional 4,002 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 1st quarter valued at about $271,000. 81.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FAST has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.33.

Fastenal Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of FAST stock opened at $77.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $44.60 billion, a PE ratio of 38.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.01. Fastenal has a 1 year low of $56.41 and a 1 year high of $79.04. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 4.39 and a quick ratio of 2.29.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. 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 the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Fastenal will post 2.04 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 paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 77.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,929,734.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 45,744 shares of Fastenal 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,929,734.24. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,373 shares of company stock valued at $13,029,308 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

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.