Fastenal Company (FAST) – What Are Researchers Saying About This Stock?

Shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $51.46.

FAST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Fastenal from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $47.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $55.00 price target on Fastenal and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Fastenal from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Fastenal Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $51.91 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $50.48 and its 200 day moving average is $47.19. Fastenal has a 52 week low of $38.97 and a 52 week high of $53.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 3.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market cap of $59.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.86, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.69.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.44 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.62% and a return on equity of 35.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 28th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other news, Director Rita J. Heise sold 34,964 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.05, for a total transaction of $1,749,948.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,001,000. The trade was a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fastenal

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fastenal during the second quarter valued at $5,105,454,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec bought a new stake in Fastenal during the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,417,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Fastenal by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,561,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $747,395,000 after purchasing an additional 183,238 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Fastenal by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,347,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,983,000 after purchasing an additional 50,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional raised its holdings in Fastenal by 1,073.1% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 203,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,092,000 after buying an additional 186,381 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Company Profile

Fastenal Company is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies headquartered in Winona, Minnesota. Founded in 1967, the company primarily serves businesses that require products for manufacturing, construction, maintenance, repair and operations.

Its product range includes threaded fasteners, bolts, nuts, screws, industrial and safety supplies, tools, electrical and plumbing products, material-handling equipment, and other related items. Fastenal also provides inventory-management solutions, including automated vending machines, customer-specific inventory programs and onsite services designed to improve product availability and purchasing efficiency.

Fastenal serves customers through a network of locations and sales channels across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and parts of Asia.