What Do Hedge Funds Think of Fastenal Company (FAST)?

Seeing as Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) has faced bearish sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there is a sect of hedge funds that slashed their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. Intriguingly, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management cut the largest stake of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, worth about $16.2 million in stock, and John Kim’s Night Owl Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $8.7 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) but similarly valued. These stocks are Plains GP Holdings LP (NYSE:PAGP), McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC), Vanguard Short Term Corporate Bond ETF (NASDAQ:VCSH), and Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:EEP). This group of stocks’ market values match FAST’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 14.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $221 million. That figure was $301 million in FAST’s case. Plains GP Holdings LP (NYSE:PAGP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Vanguard Short Term Corporate Bond ETF (NASDAQ:VCSH) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard PAGP might be a better candidate to consider a long position.