Procyon Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Procyon Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,367 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 874 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Fastenal by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 7,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $467,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Berkshire Bank raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 3.1% during the third quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Fastenal by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $873,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Camarda Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Fastenal by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Camarda Financial Advisors LLC now owns 26,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,553,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FAST shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.50.

Fastenal Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of FAST traded up $0.89 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $78.17. The company had a trading volume of 550,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,909,086. The stock has a market cap of $44.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 4.57, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.09. Fastenal has a fifty-two week low of $50.30 and a fifty-two week high of $79.04.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.72% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. Fastenal’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 11,076 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $832,472.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Reyne K. Wisecup sold 34,042 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total value of $2,331,196.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,369,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Charles S. Miller sold 11,076 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $832,472.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 105,682 shares of company stock valued at $7,375,853. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Company 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.