UMB Bank n.a. Sells 18,664 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

UMB Bank n.a. trimmed its position in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,268,829 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,664 shares during the quarter. Fastenal comprises about 1.2% of UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. UMB Bank n.a. owned 0.22% of Fastenal worth $82,182,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Fastenal by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 45,154,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,435,637,000 after purchasing an additional 138,257 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,830,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $751,780,000 after acquiring an additional 423,112 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,676,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $736,259,000 after acquiring an additional 117,040 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,092,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,243,000 after purchasing an additional 2,492,722 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,502,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,642,000 after purchasing an additional 41,898 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FAST. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fastenal news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,590 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.25, for a total transaction of $1,633,607.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.25, for a total transaction of $1,633,607.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Reyne K. Wisecup sold 34,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total transaction of $2,331,196.16. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,369,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 105,682 shares of company stock valued at $7,375,853 over the last three months. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fastenal Trading Up 0.1 %

FAST stock opened at $76.35 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $72.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.87. Fastenal has a fifty-two week low of $50.30 and a fifty-two week high of $79.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a current ratio of 4.57. The firm has a market cap of $43.69 billion, a PE ratio of 37.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.05.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.72% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Fastenal’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 31st. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 77.23%.

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.