Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Reduces Holdings in Fastenal Company $FAST

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners Inc. reduced its stake in Fastenal Company by 8.6%, selling 194,025 shares in the first quarter, leaving them with over 2 million shares valued at approximately $158.9 million.
• Fastenal reported earnings of $0.29 per share for the quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.28, while revenue rose by 8.6% year-over-year to $2.08 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, resulting in a 1.8% dividend yield, with a payout ratio of 84.62%.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lowered its position in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 8.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,049,411 shares of the company's stock after selling 194,025 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned 0.36% of Fastenal worth $158,932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Fastenal by 8.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,753,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850,871 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its position in Fastenal by 7.5% during the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 181,482 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,074,000 after purchasing an additional 12,721 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its position in Fastenal by 3.9% during the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 195,748 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,180,000 after purchasing an additional 7,400 shares during the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG lifted its position in Fastenal by 21.5% during the first quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 35,606 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,712,000 after purchasing an additional 6,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Fastenal by 23.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,459,124 shares of the company's stock valued at $190,705,000 after purchasing an additional 473,987 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company's stock.

Fastenal Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:FAST traded down $0.52 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $49.66. 4,613,202 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,558,233. The company has a fifty day moving average of $46.11 and a 200 day moving average of $41.77. Fastenal Company has a 12 month low of $32.04 and a 12 month high of $50.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 4.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.75, a PEG ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 0.95.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 32.33%. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 29th. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on FAST shares. Wolfe Research reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Northcoast Research started coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Loop Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Fastenal from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $47.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastenal has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.36.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In other news, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total transaction of $1,662,414.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 21,052 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.21, for a total transaction of $951,760.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $460,780.32. The trade was a 67.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 111,230 shares of company stock worth $5,288,364. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.