Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Short Interest Update

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 12,030,000 shares, a decrease of 5.9% from the November 15th total of 12,780,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,630,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.6 days. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fastenal news, VP John Lewis Soderberg sold 488 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.32, for a total transaction of $37,244.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Holden Lewis sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.52, for a total value of $2,295,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $756,094.12. The trade was a 75.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 158,289 shares of company stock worth $12,639,438. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FAST. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its position in Fastenal by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 8,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $619,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Fastenal by 1.9% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $545,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its holdings in Fastenal by 5.8% during the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 2,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Compass Ion Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Fastenal by 1.5% during the third quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC now owns 9,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $709,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Finally, Catalina Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Fastenal by 4.5% during the third quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 3,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FAST traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $77.95. The company had a trading volume of 339,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,223,446. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.40 and a quick ratio of 2.29. The company has a market cap of $44.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.88, a PEG ratio of 4.69 and a beta of 1.00. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $61.33 and a 12-month high of $84.88. The company has a fifty day moving average of $79.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.47.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 33.30%. Fastenal’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens lifted their price objective on Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. HSBC lowered Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Fastenal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fastenal has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.