The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 10,687 Shares of Fastenal Company $FAST

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 1.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 739,046 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,687 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $35,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 2.7% in the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,648,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,160,000 after purchasing an additional 43,297 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the second quarter worth $460,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 283.4% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 25,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,244,000 after purchasing an additional 19,152 shares during the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 6.6% during the second quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Fastenal in the second quarter valued at $206,000. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Price Performance

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $49.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.59 billion, a PE ratio of 41.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.72. Fastenal Company has a 1-year low of $38.97 and a 1-year high of $52.92. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.70. The company has a current ratio of 4.18, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.33. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.45% and a return on equity of 34.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Fastenal Company will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 28th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 28th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.14%.

Insider Transactions at Fastenal

In other news, Director Michael Ancius sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.00, for a total value of $147,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 58,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,875,810. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rita J. Heise sold 34,964 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.05, for a total transaction of $1,749,948.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,001,000. This trade represents a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FAST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Fastenal from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Fastenal from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.17.

About Fastenal

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST) is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies. The company provides fasteners such as bolts, nuts, screws and related hardware, along with safety products, tools, material-handling equipment, welding supplies, janitorial products and other maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) materials.

Fastenal serves manufacturers, construction companies, contractors, government organizations and other commercial customers. Its offerings are delivered through a network of branch locations, customer-specific onsite operations, industrial vending machines, e-commerce platforms and other supply-chain services designed to help customers manage inventory and reduce procurement time.

Founded in 1967 by Bob Kierlin in Winona, Minnesota, Fastenal has expanded from a regional fastener supplier into an international industrial distributor.