Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Short Interest Update

by · The Markets Daily

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST – Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 13,220,000 shares, a decline of 9.9% from the September 15th total of 14,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.1 days. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stephens increased their price target on Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fastenal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.33.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Fastenal

Insider Activity at Fastenal

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 value of $37,244.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Nicholas J. Lundquist sold 22,532 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.15, for a total transaction of $1,738,343.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 426,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,865,900. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 value of $37,244.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 162,331 shares of company stock worth $11,705,854 in the last 90 days. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FAST. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Fastenal by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,909,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,334,000 after acquiring an additional 193,734 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,665,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,179,000 after purchasing an additional 66,130 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Fastenal by 13.2% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,420,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,794,000 after purchasing an additional 517,172 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 19.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,837,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,161,000 after purchasing an additional 636,546 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in Fastenal by 21.2% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,248,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,617,000 after purchasing an additional 569,118 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Trading Down 0.2 %

FAST traded down $0.13 during trading on Thursday, reaching $77.64. The company had a trading volume of 2,758,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,369,108. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a current ratio of 4.39. The company has a market cap of $44.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.63, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.01. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $56.41 and a 12-month high of $79.04.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 33.54%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.61%.

About Fastenal

(Get Free Report)

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.

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