Knuff & Co LLC Invests $27,000 in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FAST. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Fastenal during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its position in Fastenal by 528.4% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 509 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the period. Finally, Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1,019.0% in the third quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 470 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price objective for the company. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.80.

Fastenal Stock Down 0.1 %

FAST stock opened at $81.80 on Tuesday. Fastenal has a 52-week low of $59.47 and a 52-week high of $84.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.40 and a quick ratio of 2.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.33.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.30% and a net margin of 15.44%. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is 77.61%.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 45,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.14, for a total transaction of $3,116,996.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 286,018 shares in the company, valued at $19,489,266.52. This trade represents a 13.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Anthony Paul Broersma sold 680 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.86, for a total transaction of $52,944.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 254,033 shares of company stock valued at $19,240,434. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.