Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Meets Estimates

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) released its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52, RTT News reports. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Fastenal Stock Up 6.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ FAST opened at $80.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.67 and a quick ratio of 2.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.24 billion, a PE ratio of 40.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. Fastenal has a one year low of $61.36 and a one year high of $84.88. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $75.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.33.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 25th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 25th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is presently 85.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on FAST shares. William Blair upgraded Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Fastenal from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastenal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Institutional Trading of Fastenal

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Fastenal stock. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $496,000. Hedge funds and other 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.