Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Announces Earnings Results

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02), Zacks reports. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 33.30%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1,842,560.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Fastenal Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $76.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.40, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Fastenal has a 1-year low of $61.36 and a 1-year high of $84.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.85, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $77.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.00.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. This is an increase from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.61%.

Insider Transactions at Fastenal

In other news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 31,818 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.50, for a total value of $2,688,621.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 286,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,168,521. The trade was a 10.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Charles S. Miller sold 23,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.92, for a total transaction of $1,970,441.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 74,660 shares of company stock worth $6,211,126. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FAST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Fastenal from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. HSBC cut shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Fastenal in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.27.

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.