Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven investment 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 brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $73.33.

Several research analysts have recently commented on FAST shares. Stephens raised their price objective on Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Fastenal from $74.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $86.00 price objective (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, Director Rita J. Heise sold 10,888 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.67, for a total transaction of $845,670.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,553,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CAO Sheryl Ann Lisowski sold 13,567 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.19, for a total value of $1,033,669.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,264.24. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rita J. Heise sold 10,888 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.67, for a total value of $845,670.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,553,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,261 shares of company stock worth $13,874,979 in the last quarter. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fastenal

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FAST. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,909,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,334,000 after acquiring an additional 193,734 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,665,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,179,000 after acquiring an additional 66,130 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,469,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $319,221,000 after acquiring an additional 48,977 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 19.9% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Fastenal by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,248,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,617,000 after acquiring an additional 569,118 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Stock Down 0.6 %

FAST stock opened at $83.10 on Friday. Fastenal has a fifty-two week low of $59.00 and a fifty-two week high of $83.80. The business’s 50-day moving average is $72.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a current ratio of 4.40. The company has a market cap of $47.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.34, a P/E/G ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.99.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. Fastenal had a return on equity of 33.30% and a net margin of 15.44%. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. Fastenal’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.