Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $82.45 and last traded at $81.46, with a volume of 2197822 shares. The stock had previously closed at $81.92.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Fastenal from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Stephens boosted their price target on Fastenal from $37.50 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wolfe Research raised Fastenal from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.55.

Fastenal Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $46.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $78.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.54.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 87.56%.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, EVP William Joseph Drazkowski sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.66, for a total value of $1,219,650.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $487,616.07. This represents a 71.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 32,724 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.23, for a total value of $1,349,046.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 193,200 shares of company stock worth $7,895,625. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,317,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,685,754,000 after buying an additional 1,016,479 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fastenal by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,753,864,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850,871 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fastenal by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,918,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,214,002,000 after acquiring an additional 234,713 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,418,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $652,875,000 after purchasing an additional 142,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Fastenal by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,322,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $526,578,000 after purchasing an additional 966,629 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

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.