Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Share Price Breaks Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $47.08 and traded as high as $50.27. Fastenal shares last traded at $50.22, with a volume of 6,198,875 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FAST. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $55.00 price objective on Fastenal and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Fastenal from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, September 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.50.

Fastenal Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.11. The stock has a market cap of $58.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 4.18, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 14th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.33. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.45% and a return on equity of 34.03%. Fastenal’s revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Fastenal Company will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 28th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 28th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is currently 88.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michael Ancius sold 3,000 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.00, for a total value of $147,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 58,690 shares in the company, valued at $2,875,810. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rita J. Heise sold 34,964 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.05, for a total transaction of $1,749,948.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,001,000. This represents a 63.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fastenal

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Palladiem LLC acquired a new position in Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Evergreen Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fastenal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 69.6% in the 1st quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Company Profile

Fastenal Company is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies serving businesses, contractors, manufacturers and other organizations. Its product offerings include fasteners such as bolts, nuts and screws, as well as safety equipment, tools, cutting tools, material-handling products, electrical and plumbing supplies, and maintenance and repair items.

The company sells products through a network of branch locations, onsite customer facilities, industrial vending machines and digital platforms.