Synovus Financial Corp Trims Stock Position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Synovus Financial Corp reduced its position in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) by 49.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,792 shares of the company's stock after selling 14,527 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp's holdings in Fastenal were worth $1,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Fastenal during the fourth quarter worth about $522,558,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Fastenal in the 4th quarter worth approximately $101,183,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 301.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,478,233 shares of the company's stock worth $106,300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,110,445 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Fastenal by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,765,044 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,493,214,000 after buying an additional 886,999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Fastenal during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,836,000. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FAST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Fastenal from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. William Blair raised Fastenal from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Fastenal from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Stephens upped their price target on Fastenal from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $79.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In related news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.31, for a total transaction of $1,219,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at $487,616.07. This trade represents a 71.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fastenal Trading Up 1.3 %

FAST traded up $1.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $81.54. 3,497,558 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,090,644. Fastenal has a 1 year low of $61.36 and a 1 year high of $84.88. The firm has a market cap of $46.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 4.67.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.52. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The company's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a boost from Fastenal's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 25th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. Fastenal's dividend payout ratio is presently 87.56%.

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.