Brokerages Set Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) PT at $74.80

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the ten brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $74.80.

A number of research firms have recently commented on FAST. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Fastenal from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Fastenal from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th.

Fastenal Trading Down 1.1 %

Fastenal stock opened at $82.67 on Tuesday. Fastenal has a one year low of $60.16 and a one year high of $84.88. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $77.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.40 and a quick ratio of 2.29. The company has a market capitalization of $47.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.13, a PEG ratio of 4.90 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, 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 business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Lewis Soderberg sold 488 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.32, for a total value of $37,244.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider William Joseph Drazkowski sold 16,362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.65, for a total value of $1,270,509.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,667.05. This represents a 73.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 208,289 shares of company stock worth $16,123,438 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FAST. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,572,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,703,000 after purchasing an additional 165,423 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its stake in Fastenal by 1.4% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 60,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,347,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in Fastenal by 83.1% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 29,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,094,000 after buying an additional 13,307 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 5.1% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,374,000 after buying an additional 1,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Fastenal in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,038,000. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.