Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Price Target Lowered to $38.00 at Morgan Stanley

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Free Report) had its price target lowered by Morgan Stanley from $76.00 to $38.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on FAST. Stephens raised their target price on Fastenal from $37.50 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. William Blair raised Fastenal from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded Fastenal from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Fastenal from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fastenal has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $40.40.

Fastenal Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ FAST traded up $0.97 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $41.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,832,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,171,279. Fastenal has a twelve month low of $30.68 and a twelve month high of $42.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 4.67. The company's 50 day moving average price is $39.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.75. The firm has a market cap of $23.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.01.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. The business's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 25th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. This is a boost from Fastenal's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 25th. Fastenal's payout ratio is presently 87.56%.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 32,724 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.23, for a total value of $1,349,046.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Daniel L. Florness sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 now owns 565,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,200,378.16. The trade was a 15.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 193,200 shares of company stock worth $7,895,625. 0.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at about $522,558,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Fastenal by 8.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,615,915 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,753,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850,871 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 8,541.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,694,235 shares of the company's stock valued at $131,388,000 after buying an additional 1,674,628 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 100.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,081,620 shares of the company's stock valued at $221,600,000 after buying an additional 1,547,319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Fastenal in the 1st quarter worth approximately $119,136,000. 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.