Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) Receives $46.50 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the fifteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $46.50.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on FAST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Fastenal from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 target price on shares of Fastenal in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Fastenal from $53.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price target on shares of Fastenal and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Hsenghung Sam Hsu purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $42.45 per share, with a total value of $42,450.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 9,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $382,050. This trade represents a 12.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffery Michael Watts sold 48,724 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.05, for a total transaction of $2,341,188.20. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 11,880 shares in the company, valued at $570,834. This represents a 80.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 90,178 shares of company stock valued at $4,336,603 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fastenal

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 103.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 149,169,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,265,119,000 after acquiring an additional 75,852,223 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 99.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,317,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,281,330,000 after acquiring an additional 27,107,520 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 103.4% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 45,995,937 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,931,830,000 after acquiring an additional 23,380,022 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 103.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,984,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,506,141,000 after acquiring an additional 18,329,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 87.9% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 34,851,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,463,743,000 after acquiring an additional 16,308,254 shares during the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fastenal Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $42.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.26, a quick ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $47.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.14. Fastenal has a twelve month low of $35.31 and a twelve month high of $50.63. The company has a market capitalization of $49.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.94.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 13th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.01). Fastenal had a net margin of 15.34% and a return on equity of 32.69%. The business had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 28th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.24%.

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.