Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Reduces Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. decreased its position in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,658 shares of the company’s stock after selling 425 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $1,190,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in Fastenal during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Fastenal in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 528.4% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 509 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 428 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FAST shares. UBS Group began coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $86.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America started coverage on Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, CAO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 13,567 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.19, for a total transaction of $1,033,669.73. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,264.24. This represents a 72.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 31,818 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.50, for a total value of $2,688,621.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,168,521. The trade was a 10.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 208,289 shares of company stock worth $16,123,438. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fastenal Price Performance

FAST stock opened at $84.10 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $48.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.84, a PEG ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.99. 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 50 day moving average of $76.80 and a 200-day moving average of $69.99. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $59.47 and a 12-month high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. Fastenal’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 77.61%.

Fastenal 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.