Cypress Capital Group Has $425,000 Position in Fastenal Company $FAST

Cypress Capital Group boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 92.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,108 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,844 shares during the quarter. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,317,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,685,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016,479 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Fastenal by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,753,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850,871 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Fastenal by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,418,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $652,875,000 after buying an additional 142,972 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its position in Fastenal by 107.2% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,822,973 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,565,000 after buying an additional 3,530,339 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 2.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,591,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $511,198,000 after buying an additional 168,830 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FAST has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Baird R W upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. They set a “positive” rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fastenal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

Fastenal Stock Down 7.5%

NASDAQ FAST opened at $42.33 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 4.22. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.97. Fastenal Company has a twelve month low of $35.31 and a twelve month high of $50.63. The stock has a market cap of $48.58 billion, a PE ratio of 40.70, a PEG ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 0.94.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 13th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.33% and a net margin of 15.30%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 28th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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. Insiders have sold 111,230 shares of company stock worth $5,288,364 in the last three months. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.