Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $74.80.

FAST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $86.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Anthony Paul Broersma sold 680 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.86, for a total transaction of $52,944.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP John Lewis Soderberg sold 488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.32, for a total transaction of $37,244.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 208,289 shares of company stock worth $16,123,438 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fastenal

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Fastenal by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,989,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,999,009,000 after buying an additional 1,346,863 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Fastenal by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,683,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,188,251,000 after buying an additional 880,372 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Fastenal by 4,008.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 756,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,522,000 after buying an additional 737,833 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Fastenal by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,837,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,161,000 after buying an additional 636,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Fastenal by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,878,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,419,690,000 after buying an additional 608,596 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Fastenal stock opened at $83.75 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $76.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.87. The company has a current ratio of 4.40, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Fastenal has a twelve month low of $59.47 and a twelve month high of $84.88. The stock has a market cap of $47.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.99.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 33.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.61%.

About Fastenal

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.