Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Earns Underperform Rating from Analysts at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued an underperform rating and a $51.00 price objective on the stock.

FAST has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price target on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Fastenal from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $55.00 target price on shares of Fastenal and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fastenal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.50.

Fastenal Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ FAST opened at $49.18 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 4.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Fastenal has a twelve month low of $38.97 and a twelve month high of $52.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.43 billion, a PE ratio of 41.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $49.00 and its 200 day moving average is $46.82.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 14th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33. Fastenal had a return on equity of 34.03% and a net margin of 15.45%.The business had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 28th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 28th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is currently 88.14%.

Insider Transactions at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, Director Michael Ancius sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.00, for a total transaction of $147,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 58,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,875,810. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rita J. Heise sold 34,964 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.05, for a total transaction of $1,749,948.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,001,000. This trade represents a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fastenal

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FAST. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Fastenal during the 2nd quarter worth about $5,105,454,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Fastenal by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,699,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,508,216,000 after purchasing an additional 685,047 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $859,310,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,292,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $755,969,000 after buying an additional 1,744,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at $646,046,000. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fastenal Company Profile

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST) is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies. The company provides fasteners such as bolts, nuts, screws and related hardware, along with safety products, tools, material-handling equipment, welding supplies, janitorial products and other maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) materials.

Fastenal serves manufacturers, construction companies, contractors, government organizations and other commercial customers. Its offerings are delivered through a network of branch locations, customer-specific onsite operations, industrial vending machines, e-commerce platforms and other supply-chain services designed to help customers manage inventory and reduce procurement time.

Founded in 1967 by Bob Kierlin in Winona, Minnesota, Fastenal has expanded from a regional fastener supplier into an international industrial distributor.