Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Short Interest Up 6.5% in December

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,050,000 shares, a growth of 6.5% from the December 15th total of 11,310,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,810,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,480 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.92, for a total value of $1,970,441.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 31,818 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.50, for a total transaction of $2,688,621.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 286,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,168,521. The trade was a 10.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 74,660 shares of company stock worth $6,211,126 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,989,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,999,009,000 after buying an additional 1,346,863 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Fastenal by 5.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,683,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,188,251,000 after purchasing an additional 880,372 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Fastenal by 4,008.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 756,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,522,000 after purchasing an additional 737,833 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,878,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,419,690,000 after purchasing an additional 608,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 13.2% during the 2nd 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. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Price Performance

FAST stock opened at $76.08 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $43.59 billion, a PE ratio of 37.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.07. Fastenal has a 1 year low of $61.36 and a 1 year high of $84.88. The company has a current ratio of 4.40, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). Fastenal had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 33.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1,842,560.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal’s payout ratio is currently 85.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FAST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America began coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. HSBC downgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fastenal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.27.

About Fastenal

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.