Fastenal Company Company Profile (NASDAQ:FAST)

Fastenal Company trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "FAST."

Fastenal Company declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 26th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share on Wednesday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 24th. View Fastenal Company's Dividend History.

Fastenal Company declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 12th 2017, which allows the company to buyback 5,000,000 shares, according to EventVestor. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July, 12th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Fastenal Company had a net margin of 12.71% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. View Fastenal Company's Earnings History.

Fastenal Company is scheduled to release their next quarterly earnings announcement on Wednesday, October, 11th 2017. View Earnings Estimates for Fastenal Company.

14 analysts have issued twelve-month target prices for Fastenal Company's stock. Their forecasts range from $43.00 to $55.00. On average, they expect Fastenal Company's share price to reach $50.57 in the next year. View Analyst Ratings for Fastenal Company.

Here are some recent quotes from research analysts about Fastenal Company stock:

• 1. According to Zacks Investment Research, "Fastenal is boosting sales performance at stores through additional sales support and vending machine installations. The company’s cost-saving initiative, Pathway-to-Profit, also bodes well. After a soft 2013, vending trends improved through 2014, 2015 and 2016 as management’s efforts to enhance the quality of signings/installs paid off. The company plans to continue opening stores in 2017 to sustain and improve its network and drive growth. Though, shares of Fastenal lost 7.6% year to date, estimates for the current year has been trending north in the past 60 days. However, the company’s margins continue to remain under pressure." (6/14/2017)
• 2. Credit Suisse Group analysts commented, "FAST put up a good operational Q4 beat and exceeded GM expectations which were helped by cost initiatives. However, Q4 felt fairly similar to Q3 from a demand perspective - in fact, December ADS was even shy of expectations (and so were Oct-Nov). There were areas of improvement, particularly with oil/processing customers, yet core industrial customers were largely unchanged. FAST traded up 6% on just a modest $0.02 beat which continues to reflect how the market is discounting current trends in favor of distributors' early/short cycle leverage in out years. The play here is less about fundamental EPS upside and more so where the multiple goes, in our view. In fact, our EPS est's are only increasing 2.8% and 4.7% for 2017 and 2018, respectively. Expectations are soaring, and sooner or later FAST's ADS will need to accelerate to justify its multiple. At current levels, we don't see a favorable enough risk/reward, keeping us sidelined. Our $49 TP (from $41) assumes 27x our 2018 EPS of $2.00, discounted back, and we reiterate our Neutral rating. We are raising 2017 and 2017 EPS estimates to $1.83 and $2 (from $1.78 and $1.91)." (1/19/2017)

Fastenal Company saw a increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 24,316,523 shares, an increase of 9.5% from the May 31st total of 22,207,905 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,675,651 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.6 days. Currently, 8.5% of the company's shares are sold short.

Some companies that are related to Fastenal Company include Expedia (EXPE), Ross Stores (ROST), Kroger Company (The) (KR), Dollar General Corporation (DG), Tesco PLC (TSCDY), Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV (AHONY), Best Buy Co. (BBY), O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Ulta Beauty (ULTA), Restaurant Brands International (QSR), AutoZone (AZO), Whole Foods Market (WFM), L Brands (LB), MercadoLibre (MELI), CarMax (KMX), Tiffany & Co. (TIF) and Darden Restaurants (DRI).

Fastenal Company's management team includes the folowing people:

• Willard D. Oberton, Chairman of the Board
• Daniel L. Florness, President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
• Holden Lewis, Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
• William J. Drazkowski, Executive Vice President – National Accounts Sales
• Leland J. Hein Jr., Senior Executive Vice President – Sales
• James C. Jansen, Executive Vice President – Manufacturing
• Nicholas J. Lundquist, Senior Executive Vice President – Operations
• Charles S. Miller, Executive Vice President - Sales
• Terry M. Owen, Senior Executive Vice President – Sales Operations
• Gary A. Polipnick, Executive Vice President – FAST Solutions

Fastenal Company's stock is owned by many different of retail and institutional investors. Top institutional shareholders include Confluence Investment Management LLC (0.82%), Investmentaktiengesellschaft Fuer Langfristige Investoren TGV (0.28%), Alta Capital Management LLC (0.26%), US Bancorp DE (0.19%), Marathon Asset Management LLP (0.19%) and Dudley & Shanley LLC (0.15%). Company insiders that own Fastenal Company stock include Daniel L Florness, Daniel L Johnson, Darren R Jackson, Gary A Polipnick, Holden Lewis, James C Jansen, John Lewis Soderberg, Kenneth R Nance, Leland J Hein, Michael J Ancius, Nicholas J Lundquist, Reyne K Wisecup, Sheryl Ann Lisowski, Stephen L Eastman, Terry Modock Owen and Willard D Oberton. View Institutional Ownership Trends for Fastenal Company.

Fastenal Company's stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Douglas Lane & Associates LLC, Dudley & Shanley LLC, Wendell David Associates Inc., Exxonmobil Investment Management Inc. TX, Trust Co. of Vermont, State of Alaska Department of Revenue, Financial & Investment Management Group Ltd. and Xact Kapitalforvaltning AB. Company insiders that have sold Fastenal Company stock in the last year include Leland J Hein, Reyne K Wisecup and Willard D Oberton. View Insider Buying and Selling for Fastenal Company.

Fastenal Company's stock was bought by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Confluence Investment Management LLC, Marathon Asset Management LLP, US Bancorp DE, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC, Pensionfund DSM Netherlands, Cullinan Associates Inc., Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. and Pensionfund Sabic. Company insiders that have bought Fastenal Company stock in the last two years include Daniel L Johnson, Darren R Jackson, Gary A Polipnick, Holden Lewis, Michael J Ancius, Nicholas J Lundquist and Stephen L Eastman. View Insider Buying and Selling for Fastenal Company.

Shares of Fastenal Company can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages include Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Scottrade, Fidelity and Charles Schwab.

One share of Fastenal Company stock can currently be purchased for approximately $43.07.