Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.01), RTT News reports. Fastenal had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 15.72%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Fastenal Stock Down 1.5 %

FAST stock opened at $74.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 4.57 and a quick ratio of 2.27. Fastenal has a 52-week low of $50.30 and a 52-week high of $79.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 1.05.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 25th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, insider William Joseph Drazkowski sold 11,968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total transaction of $826,988.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at $414,392.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Fastenal news, insider William Joseph Drazkowski sold 11,968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total transaction of $826,988.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at $414,392.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Charles S. Miller sold 11,076 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $832,472.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 105,682 shares of company stock worth $7,375,853 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP raised its position in Fastenal by 62.3% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 409 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in Fastenal by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,201,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,845,000 after purchasing an additional 156,052 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Fastenal by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,487,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,367,000 after purchasing an additional 4,510 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Fastenal in the fourth quarter worth about $975,000. Finally, Oarsman Capital Inc. raised its position in Fastenal by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 7,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FAST. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fastenal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.20.

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.