Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Receives $67.67 Average PT from Brokerages

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the five analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $67.67.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Fastenal from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 12th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Fastenal from $71.00 to $66.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday. HSBC increased their price objective on Fastenal from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th.

Fastenal Price Performance

NASDAQ FAST opened at $68.48 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.20. Fastenal has a 52-week low of $52.28 and a 52-week high of $79.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a current ratio of 4.83. The stock has a market cap of $39.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.05.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.98% and a net margin of 15.68%. Fastenal’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 25th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 24th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is currently 77.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fastenal news, Director Reyne K. Wisecup sold 34,042 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total value of $2,331,196.16. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,369,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 11,076 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $832,472.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Reyne K. Wisecup sold 34,042 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total value of $2,331,196.16. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,369,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 105,682 shares of company stock worth $7,375,853. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fastenal

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,336,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,555,700,000 after acquiring an additional 710,884 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 45,154,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,435,637,000 after buying an additional 138,257 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 423,112 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 117,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,492,722 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.