Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Purchases 41,367 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 63.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 106,667 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 41,367 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $7,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in FAST. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 4,008.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 756,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,522,000 after buying an additional 737,833 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,837,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,161,000 after buying an additional 636,546 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,878,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,419,690,000 after buying an additional 608,596 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at $37,659,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,420,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,794,000 after buying an additional 517,172 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, CFO Holden Lewis sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $756,094.12. This represents a 75.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.68, for a total transaction of $3,484,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 286,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,929,734.24. This represents a 14.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 208,289 shares of company stock worth $16,123,438. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Stephens increased their target price on Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Fastenal in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 target price for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fastenal has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.80.

Fastenal Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FAST opened at $83.71 on Thursday. Fastenal has a 52-week low of $59.47 and a 52-week high of $84.88. The company has a market capitalization of $47.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a current ratio of 4.40.

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

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.