State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 21,519 Shares of Fastenal Company $FAST

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D has reduced its stake in Fastenal Company by 10.3%, selling 21,519 shares and now holding a total of 188,149 shares valued at approximately $14.59 million.
• Insider trading activity included significant sales, with Jeffery Michael Watts selling 48,724 shares and Sheryl Ann Lisowski selling 21,052 shares, indicating a decrease in their ownership positions in Fastenal.
• Fastenal recently announced a $0.22 quarterly dividend, which represents an annualized amount of $0.88, reflecting a yield of 1.8% with a payout ratio of 84.62%.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its holdings in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 10.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 188,149 shares of the company's stock after selling 21,519 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Fastenal were worth $14,591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FAST. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Fastenal by 8.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company's stock worth $1,753,864,000 after buying an additional 1,850,871 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Fastenal by 8,541.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,694,235 shares of the company's stock valued at $131,388,000 after buying an additional 1,674,628 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 100.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,081,620 shares of the company's stock valued at $221,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,547,319 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal during the 1st quarter valued at $119,136,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Fastenal by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,317,271 shares of the company's stock worth $5,685,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016,479 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on FAST shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 target price on Fastenal in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price target on Fastenal and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Baird R W raised Fastenal from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Fastenal from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Loop Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.36.

Fastenal Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Fastenal stock traded down $0.36 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $49.54. 6,319,558 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,618,742. The stock has a market cap of $56.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.64, a PEG ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.08. Fastenal Company has a twelve month low of $32.04 and a twelve month high of $50.06. 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 (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 29th. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio is presently 84.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the company'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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 6,842 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total value of $333,000.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,994 shares in the company, valued at $583,747.98. The trade was a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 111,230 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,364. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Fastenal 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.