Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Receives $77.40 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) have received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $77.27.

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Hsbc Global Res cut Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Fastenal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In other news, Director Daniel L. Johnson sold 8,474 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.36, for a total transaction of $706,392.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,595 shares in the company, valued at $883,199.20. This represents a 44.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.92, for a total transaction of $1,970,441.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 74,660 shares of company stock valued at $6,211,126. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Fastenal by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,989,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,999,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346,863 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Fastenal by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,683,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,188,251,000 after purchasing an additional 880,372 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 19.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,837,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,161,000 after acquiring an additional 636,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Fastenal by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,878,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,419,690,000 after purchasing an additional 608,596 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FAST opened at $76.08 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.93. Fastenal has a 12 month low of $61.36 and a 12 month high of $84.88. The firm has a market cap of $43.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.85, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.29, a current ratio of 4.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). Fastenal had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 33.30%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1,842,560.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. Fastenal’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.61%.

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.