Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Sells 1,375 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT cut its holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,140 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,375 shares during the quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $3,905,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Fastenal by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,928,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $513,510,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,529 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,800,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,931,000 after buying an additional 109,028 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 19.9% during the 2nd 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 period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 21.2% during the 1st 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 period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 46.2% during the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,185,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $245,757,000 after buying an additional 1,006,402 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on FAST shares. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Fastenal in a report on Friday, September 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Fastenal from $74.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target (down from $85.00) on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, July 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.43.

Fastenal Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $70.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 4.39 and a quick ratio of 2.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.01. Fastenal has a one year low of $53.83 and a one year high of $79.04. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $67.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.50.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.54% and a net margin of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. Fastenal’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 77.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fastenal news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.68, for a total value of $3,484,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 286,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,929,734.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.68, for a total transaction of $3,484,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 286,018 shares in the company, valued at $19,929,734.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 45,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $19,489,266.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.