Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,310,000 shares, a decrease of 6.0% from the November 30th total of 12,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,740,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Daniel L. Johnson sold 8,474 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.36, for a total transaction of $706,392.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $883,199.20. The trade was a 44.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP John Lewis Soderberg sold 488 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.32, for a total transaction of $37,244.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 158,289 shares of company stock valued at $12,639,438 in the last ninety days. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fastenal

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FAST. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in Fastenal during the 2nd quarter valued at about $99,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 8.9% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 118,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,444,000 after buying an additional 9,728 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 9.4% in the second quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 7,955 shares of the company’s stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 685 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 49.2% during the 2nd quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 5,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 270.0% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 7,138 shares of the company’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,209 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FAST opened at $71.91 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.29, a current ratio of 4.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.78, a PEG ratio of 4.69 and a beta of 1.00. Fastenal has a 52 week low of $61.33 and a 52 week high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.30% and a net margin of 15.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 77.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FAST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America began coverage on Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Fastenal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. HSBC lowered Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.40.

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.