Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Reduces Stock Holdings in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 77.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 126,579 shares of the company’s stock after selling 433,181 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $9,040,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Fastenal by 84.5% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 7.6% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $626,000 after acquiring an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Fastenal by 23.3% in the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 3,324 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in Fastenal by 2.1% during the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 341,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,328,000 after acquiring an additional 7,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Fastenal by 61.1% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 347,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,830,000 after acquiring an additional 131,887 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FAST. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 price objective (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Fastenal in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.80.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of Fastenal stock opened at $82.44 on Friday. 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 has a 52-week low of $59.47 and a 52-week high of $84.88. The company has a fifty day moving average of $75.99 and a 200-day moving average of $69.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.99.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. Fastenal’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.61%.

Insider Transactions at Fastenal

In other news, VP John Lewis Soderberg sold 488 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.32, for a total value of $37,244.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.68, for a total value of $3,484,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,929,734.24. The trade was a 14.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 208,289 shares of company stock worth $16,123,438. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fastenal Company 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.