As the world moves towards a more digital age, it’s easy to overlook the importance of fasteners and tools. However, companies like Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) prove that there is still a demand for these products. And it seems that Creative Planning recognizes this too, as they recently grew their stake in shares of Fastenal by 4.4%.
According to Creative Planning’s most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, they now own 80,343 shares of Fastenal’s stock. This number includes an additional 3,413 shares that were purchased during the fourth quarter. The overall value of these holdings was $3,802,000 as of the filing date on June 1st, 2023.
Fastenal has also recently announced its quarterly earnings data from April 13th, which shows promising results for investors like Creative Planning. The company reported earnings per share of $0.52 for the quarter, beating consensus estimates by $0.03. Additionally, Fastenal had a return on equity of 34.83% and a net margin of 15.59%. The firm earned $1.86 billion in revenue during this time frame.
Despite some analysts’ predictions that Fastenal will post lower earnings per share this year than last year (1.98 compared to 2.11), it remains a leading player in the distribution industry for fasteners and tools.
Fastenal was founded back in November 1967 by Robert A Kierlin, Michael M Gostomski, Henry K McCannon, John D Remick and Stephen M Slaggie in Winona, Minnesota where it still has its headquarters today.
In conclusion Fastenal has been a reliable company long before its entry into Nasdaq stock exchange platform with its engagementin fasteners business industry not only helps economy wise but is also important for establishing reliable infrastructure building blocks to secure safe environments where constructions rise beyond limits. It’s no wonder Creative Planning chooses to hold Fastenal’s stock as part of its investment portfolio.
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Fastenal Co: A Hot Investment Opportunity in the Fastener Industry
Fastenal: A Growing Investment Opportunity
Over the past few months, several institutional investors have made moves in the stock of Fastenal Co (NASDAQ:FAST), a company that distributes fasteners and tools and also operates hardware stores. New Hampshire Trust and Old North State Trust LLC acquired new stakes during Q3 worth $31,000 each. Harvest Fund Management lifted its holdings by 617% in Q4, bringing total shares owned to 803 worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares in the same quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. came onboard with a new position worth $39,000 while Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC bought a stake in Q3 worth $42,000. What may be most pertinent to investors is that over three-quarters of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Fastenal has been constantly hitting new highs amid economic optimism inspired by President Biden’s infrastructure plans. As of June 1st, FAST opened at $53.85 per share – far above its 1-year low of $43.73 and close to its high of $56.65 for this same period.
The company’s market capitalization stands at $30.75 billion with a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.62 coupled with a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and beta value of 1.19 – indicative that it’s more volatile than other stocks with similar historical patterns due to the nature of its industry.
Heralding out of Winona Minnesota where it was founded back in November 1967 by Robert Kierlin et al., today Fastenal boasts over two decades’ experience in the fastener trade as well as leading distribution networks for industrial supplies and safety products – which means they’re well positioned for growth through their core expertise – namely providing essential materials to construction companies and manufacturers.
In addition to this news on ownership changes among its investors, the company recently paid out a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share on May 25th to stockholders of record on April 27th. This payout is equivalent to an annualized yield of 2.60%, which underscores the board’s level of confidence in Fastenal’s financial performance.
Notably, this is not all positive news. Morgan Stanley recently rated Fastenal with an “underweight” rating while other analysts have tagged it as a “hold” or “neutral.” Despite this, Stifel Nicolaus set a buy target price of $61.00 back in April and October sees shares trade at their ex-dividend date.
All in all, there seems plenty of reasons why savvy investors should consider adding Fastenal Co shares to their portfolios especially given both infrastructure plans and developments in agriculture which has seen more demand for industrial hardware throughout this pandemic.
