Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Upgraded to Outperform at William Blair

William Blair upgraded shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. William Blair also issued estimates for Fastenal’s FY2026 earnings at $2.34 EPS.

FAST has been the subject of several other reports. HSBC lowered Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of FAST stock opened at $75.99 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $74.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 4.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $43.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.81, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. Fastenal has a 12 month low of $61.36 and a 12 month high of $84.88.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. Fastenal’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 85.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Fastenal in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in Fastenal in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Fastenal by 481.9% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.