Fastenal Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:FAST)

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders purchased 8,477 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 246% compared to the typical volume of 2,451 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on FAST shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $68.20.

Fastenal Stock Down 6.5 %

NASDAQ FAST traded down $4.86 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $69.88. 11,051,483 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,041,190. The business's 50-day moving average is $73.74 and its 200-day moving average is $65.69. Fastenal has a twelve month low of $50.30 and a twelve month high of $79.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a current ratio of 4.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 1.05.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.01). Fastenal had a net margin of 15.72% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.23%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 11,076 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $832,472.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 11,076 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $832,472.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider William Joseph Drazkowski sold 11,968 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total transaction of $826,988.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at $414,392.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 105,682 shares of company stock worth $7,375,853. Insiders own 0.41% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fastenal

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,336,580 shares of the company's stock worth $4,555,700,000 after purchasing an additional 710,884 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 0.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 45,154,559 shares of the company's stock worth $2,435,637,000 after purchasing an additional 138,257 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Fastenal by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,830,951 shares of the company's stock worth $751,780,000 after acquiring an additional 423,112 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Fastenal by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,676,410 shares of the company's stock worth $736,259,000 after acquiring an additional 117,040 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Fastenal by 37.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,092,207 shares of the company's stock worth $430,243,000 after acquiring an additional 2,492,722 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company's stock.

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.