Daniel Johnson, a director at
Fastenal (FAST), recently added 3,550 shares. The buy increased his stake by 46% and came to a total cost of $229,056.
This is the first insider buy at the company since last July, when another director bought 500 shares for just under $29,000. Insiders were bigger buyers in late 2022, when the company CEO, CFO and a number of directors made multiple purchases of shares.
Overall, Fastenal insiders own 0.2% of shares.
The manufacturer and seller of fastening tools is up 23% over the past year, slightly beating the overall stock market.
Operationally, performance has been flat, with revenues up just 2% and earnings up about 1%. However, Fastenal has a 15% profit margin, and is an industry leader in its space.
The current rally has taken shares to about 32 times earnings, a notable premium to the overall stock market.
Action to take: Fastenal is an attractive company for buy-and-hold investors, provided it’s bought on a pullback like the recent one. Over time, Fastenal has had a strong track record for shareholder returns.
Fastenal is also a dividend growth stock, with a current yields of 2.3%, recently raised from 2.1%.
For traders, shares look ready to trend higher following their recent drop lower. The July $70 calls, last trading for about $1.21, could see mid-double-digit returns on a trend higher in the coming weeks.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.
