Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 411 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,775 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $1,412,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FAST. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Fastenal in the 1st quarter worth $287,000. M&G Plc bought a new position in Fastenal during the first quarter valued at about $11,212,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Fastenal by 84.5% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its holdings in Fastenal by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 76,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,939,000 after acquiring an additional 8,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cynosure Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 1st quarter worth approximately $336,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Performance

NASDAQ FAST opened at $81.85 on Friday. Fastenal has a 1-year low of $59.47 and a 1-year high of $84.88. The company has a 50 day moving average of $74.96 and a 200-day moving average of $69.22. The company has a current ratio of 4.40, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $46.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.72, a PEG ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.99.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.30% and a net margin of 15.44%. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fastenal news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 45,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,489,266.52. This represents a 13.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Holden Lewis sold 30,000 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.52, for a total value of $2,295,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $756,094.12. This trade represents a 75.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,033 shares of company stock worth $19,240,434 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on FAST. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.80.

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.