Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) Stock Now Rated “Hold” by Wall Street Analysts

Shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $51.46.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on FAST shares. DA Davidson set a $51.00 price objective on Fastenal and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Fastenal from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $47.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Fastenal in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Fastenal in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Fastenal from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th.

Fastenal Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $52.55 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $50.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.24. The company has a current ratio of 3.93, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.69. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $38.97 and a 12-month high of $53.30.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.44 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.62% and a return on equity of 35.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 28th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 83.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fastenal news, Director Rita J. Heise sold 34,964 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.05, for a total transaction of $1,749,948.20. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,001,000. The trade was a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fastenal

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FAST. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the second quarter worth $5,105,454,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the second quarter valued at $859,310,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at $410,919,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at $239,279,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at $230,169,000. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

About Fastenal

Fastenal Company is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies headquartered in Winona, Minnesota. Founded in 1967, the company primarily serves businesses that require products for manufacturing, construction, maintenance, repair and operations.

Its product range includes threaded fasteners, bolts, nuts, screws, industrial and safety supplies, tools, electrical and plumbing products, material-handling equipment, and other related items. Fastenal also provides inventory-management solutions, including automated vending machines, customer-specific inventory programs and onsite services designed to improve product availability and purchasing efficiency.

Fastenal serves customers through a network of locations and sales channels across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and parts of Asia.