Brokerages Set Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) Target Price at $46.82

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.8182.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FAST shares. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 target price on shares of Fastenal in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Baird R W raised Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Fastenal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price target on Fastenal and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other news, insider Jeffery Michael Watts sold 48,724 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.05, for a total transaction of $2,341,188.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 11,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,834. This represents a 80.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total transaction of $1,662,414.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 111,230 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,364 over the last three months. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fastenal

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Fastenal by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,753,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850,871 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Fastenal by 7.5% during the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 181,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,074,000 after buying an additional 12,721 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its holdings in Fastenal by 3.9% in the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 195,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,180,000 after acquiring an additional 7,400 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG lifted its stake in Fastenal by 21.5% in the first quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 35,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,712,000 after acquiring an additional 6,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Fastenal by 23.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,459,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,705,000 after acquiring an additional 473,987 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fastenal Price Performance

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $48.70 on Monday. Fastenal has a 52 week low of $34.69 and a 52 week high of $50.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $48.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.27. The company has a market capitalization of $55.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 14th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.33% and a net margin of 15.30%.The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.25 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 29th. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.62%.

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.