1,945,287 Shares of Fastenal Company $FAST Acquired by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 1,945,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $96,350,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FAST. Evergreen Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Fastenal during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Fastenal in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky acquired a new position in Fastenal during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Fastenal by 69.6% during the first quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Fastenal during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. DA Davidson set a $51.00 target price on shares of Fastenal and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Fastenal from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Fastenal from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.46.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST stock opened at $51.91 on Friday. Fastenal Company has a 12 month low of $38.97 and a 12 month high of $53.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 3.93 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $50.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.19.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.01. Fastenal had a return on equity of 35.13% and a net margin of 15.62%. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. Fastenal’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fastenal Company will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 28th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is 83.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rita J. Heise sold 34,964 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.05, for a total transaction of $1,749,948.20. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,001,000. This represents a 63.61% 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. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Fastenal

Fastenal Company is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies headquartered in Winona, Minnesota. Founded in 1967, the company primarily serves businesses that require products for manufacturing, construction, maintenance, repair and operations.

Its product range includes threaded fasteners, bolts, nuts, screws, industrial and safety supplies, tools, electrical and plumbing products, material-handling equipment, and other related items. Fastenal also provides inventory-management solutions, including automated vending machines, customer-specific inventory programs and onsite services designed to improve product availability and purchasing efficiency.

Fastenal serves customers through a network of locations and sales channels across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and parts of Asia.