Clarius Group LLC Acquires 4,165 Shares of Fastenal Company $FAST

Clarius Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 87.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,943 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,165 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Patton Fund Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fastenal during the second quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Fastenal by 8.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,753,864,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850,871 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in Fastenal by 7.5% in the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 181,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,074,000 after acquiring an additional 12,721 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its stake in Fastenal by 3.9% in the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 195,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,180,000 after acquiring an additional 7,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG boosted its stake in Fastenal by 21.5% in the first quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 35,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,712,000 after acquiring an additional 6,303 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fastenal Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $47.78 on Tuesday. Fastenal Company has a 12 month low of $34.69 and a 12 month high of $50.63. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.71. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $54.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.94, a PEG ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.94.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 32.33%. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In related news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total transaction of $333,000.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $583,747.98. This trade represents a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total transaction of $1,662,414.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 111,230 shares of company stock worth $5,288,364. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on FAST. Loop Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Fastenal from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Fastenal from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 target price on shares of Fastenal and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 target price on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.25.

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.