Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.44

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 10th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 25th will be given a dividend of 0.44 per share on Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. This is a 2.3% increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43.

Fastenal has raised its dividend by an average of 11.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 26 consecutive years. Fastenal has a payout ratio of 73.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Fastenal to earn $2.33 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 73.8%.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST traded down $0.68 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $75.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,597,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,130,250. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.24. The company has a market cap of $43.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.71, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. Fastenal has a 52-week low of $61.36 and a 52-week high of $84.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.67 and a quick ratio of 2.28.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. William Blair raised Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. HSBC downgraded Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Fastenal from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fastenal

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Fastenal stock. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 6,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $496,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

About Fastenal

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.