Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday. The company traded as high as $54.91 and last traded at $54.5810, with a volume of 790,999 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.21.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FAST. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Fastenal from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $55.00 target price on shares of Fastenal and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $47.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Fastenal from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $51.00 price target on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.46.

Fastenal Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $62.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.81, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 3.93 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $50.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.34.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.44 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.62% and a return on equity of 35.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 28th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is 83.87%.

Institutional Trading of Fastenal

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FAST. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Fastenal during the 2nd quarter worth $5,105,454,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Fastenal by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,438,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,710,764,000 after acquiring an additional 869,793 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Fastenal during the 2nd quarter worth about $859,310,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,292,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $755,969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,744,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,561,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $747,395,000 after acquiring an additional 183,238 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fastenal Company Profile

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.