Bank of Nova Scotia Decreases Position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST)

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its stake in Fastenal Company by 22.7%, selling 17,408 shares, and now holds 59,199 shares valued at approximately $4.59 million.
• Fastenal's recent quarterly earnings report surpassed analyst expectations, with earnings per share of $0.29 and revenue of $2.08 billion, reflecting an 8.6% increase from the previous year.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 scheduled for distribution on August 26, indicating a dividend yield of 1.9% and a payout ratio of 84.62%.

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its position in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 22.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,199 shares of the company's stock after selling 17,408 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Fastenal were worth $4,591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at $496,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 6,859 shares of the company's stock valued at $493,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,628,282 shares of the company's stock valued at $476,640,000 after purchasing an additional 33,718 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 777.1% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 311,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,632,000 after purchasing an additional 275,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 128,901 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,648 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fastenal Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ FAST traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $47.99. 5,069,335 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,317,861. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.14, a PEG ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 4.22. Fastenal Company has a twelve month low of $32.04 and a twelve month high of $48.38.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.07 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.33% and a net margin of 15.30%. The company's revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 29th. Fastenal's payout ratio is currently 84.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In related news, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 32,724 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.23, for a total transaction of $1,349,046.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.21, for a total transaction of $951,760.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,192 shares in the company, valued at $460,780.32. This represents a 67.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on FAST. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price target on shares of Fastenal in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Fastenal from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Fastenal and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Wolfe Research reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.36.

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.