Loop Capital Trims Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Target Price to $66.00

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FASTFree Report) had its price objective lowered by Loop Capital from $71.00 to $66.00 in a research report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. HSBC increased their target price on Fastenal from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Fastenal from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $67.67.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Fastenal

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $68.48 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a current ratio of 4.83. The firm has a market cap of $39.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.20. Fastenal has a 52 week low of $52.28 and a 52 week high of $79.04.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FASTGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.68% and a return on equity of 33.98%. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 24th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 77.23%.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.25, for a total value of $1,633,607.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Fastenal news, Director Reyne K. Wisecup sold 34,042 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total value of $2,331,196.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,369,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.25, for a total value of $1,633,607.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 105,682 shares of company stock worth $7,375,853 in the last 90 days. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fastenal

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fastenal by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,336,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,555,700,000 after acquiring an additional 710,884 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 45,154,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,435,637,000 after buying an additional 138,257 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,830,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $751,780,000 after buying an additional 423,112 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,676,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $736,259,000 after buying an additional 117,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,092,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,243,000 after buying an additional 2,492,722 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

See Also

Analyst Recommendations for Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

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