Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Short Interest Up 93.5% in May

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 28,410,000 shares, an increase of 93.5% from the April 30th total of 14,680,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,410,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days. Currently, 5.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on FAST shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Fastenal from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $37.50 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. William Blair upgraded shares of Fastenal from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Fastenal from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $40.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.06, for a total transaction of $4,106,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 565,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,200,378.16. This trade represents a 15.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Scott Satterlee sold 19,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.76, for a total transaction of $768,861.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,987,750. This trade represents a 27.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 193,200 shares of company stock worth $7,895,625. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Fastenal

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the fourth quarter valued at about $522,558,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,753,864,000 after buying an additional 1,850,871 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 8,541.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,694,235 shares of the company's stock worth $131,388,000 after buying an additional 1,674,628 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 100.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,081,620 shares of the company's stock valued at $221,600,000 after buying an additional 1,547,319 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $119,136,000. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fastenal Price Performance

FAST stock traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 872,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,043,902. The company has a current ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company's 50 day moving average is $39.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.76. Fastenal has a fifty-two week low of $30.68 and a fifty-two week high of $42.44. The stock has a market cap of $47.04 billion, a PE ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.01.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 25th were issued a $0.44 dividend. This is a boost from Fastenal's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 25th. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio is presently 88.00%.

Fastenal Company 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.