HSBC Increases Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Price Target to $64.00

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) had its price target lifted by HSBC from $59.00 to $64.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the stock.

FAST has been the subject of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Fastenal from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastenal has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $67.67.

Fastenal Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $67.50 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $38.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $73.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a current ratio of 4.83. Fastenal has a 52-week low of $52.28 and a 52-week high of $79.04.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.01). The firm 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. Analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 25th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 24th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.23%.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, Director Daniel L. Johnson purchased 3,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $68.38 per share, for a total transaction of $229,073.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 10,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $724,486.10. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Daniel L. Johnson acquired 3,350 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $68.38 per share, for a total transaction of $229,073.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 10,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $724,486.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,590 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.25, for a total transaction of $1,633,607.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 71,640 shares of company stock worth $5,044,657. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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