Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Loop Capital Analyst Says

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by analysts at Loop Capital from $40.00 to $45.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "hold" rating on the stock. Loop Capital's price target would indicate a potential upside of 5.49% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on FAST. Robert W. Baird set a $86.00 price objective on Fastenal in a report on Thursday. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Thursday. William Blair upgraded Fastenal from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 target price on Fastenal and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded 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 assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $48.45.

Fastenal Price Performance

Shares of Fastenal stock traded up $0.19 on Tuesday, hitting $42.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 342,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,014,097. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 4.28. Fastenal has a 1 year low of $31.02 and a 1 year high of $43.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $41.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.02. The company has a market capitalization of $48.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.96.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.26. Fastenal had a return on equity of 31.99% and a net margin of 15.13%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. Fastenal's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.06, for a total transaction of $4,106,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 565,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,200,378.16. This represents a 15.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Scott Satterlee sold 19,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.76, for a total value of $768,861.70. Following the sale, the director directly owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,987,750. This represents a 27.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 193,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,895,625 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fastenal

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of FAST. Garde Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 4,900.0% during the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 750 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares in the last quarter. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal during the first quarter worth $36,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 5,330.0% during the first quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 543 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 481.9% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 611 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. 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.

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