Fastenal (FAST) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST) is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies. The company provides fasteners such as bolts, nuts, screws and related hardware, along with safety products, tools, material-handling equipment, welding supplies, janitorial products and other maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) materials.

Fastenal serves manufacturers, construction companies, contractors, government organizations and other commercial customers. Its offerings are delivered through a network of branch locations, customer-specific onsite operations, industrial vending machines, e-commerce platforms and other supply-chain services designed to help customers manage inventory and reduce procurement time.

Founded in 1967 by Bob Kierlin in Winona, Minnesota, Fastenal has expanded from a regional fastener supplier into an international industrial distributor. The company serves customers primarily in North America, while also operating and selling products in selected markets internationally.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $49.01 to $49.91
• 50-Day Range: $44.76 to $52.38
• 52-Week Range: $38.97 to $52.92
• Volume: 6.37 million shs
• Average Volume: 5.56 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $56.59 billion
• P/E Ratio: 41.80
• Dividend Yield: 2.11%
• Price Target: $49.17
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Fastenal Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Fastenal scored higher than 64% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 413th out of 667 stocks in the industrials sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.2 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Fastenal has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.31, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 6 buy ratings, 5 hold ratings, and 2 sell ratings.

Upside/Downside

The consensus price target for Fastenal is close to its current price, suggesting limited near-term upside or downside.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Fastenal has been the subject of 8 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 10.32%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Fastenal are expected to grow by 10.32% in the coming year, from $1.26 to $1.39 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Fastenal is 41.80, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 44.90.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Fastenal is 41.80, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Industrials sector average P/E ratio of about 25.79.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Fastenal has a PEG Ratio of 3.08. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Fastenal has a P/B Ratio of 14.38. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.03% of the float of Fastenal has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Fastenal has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 6.27.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Fastenal has recently increased by 11.04%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Fastenal pays a meaningful dividend of 2.12%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Fastenal has been increasing its dividend for 26 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Fastenal is 88.14%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Fastenal will have a dividend payout ratio of 74.82% next year. This indicates that Fastenal will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.27

News Sentiment

Fastenal has a news sentiment score of 1.27. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.76 average news sentiment score of Industrials companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 18 news articles for Fastenal this week, compared to 9 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 11 people have searched for FAST on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -35% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 8 people have added Fastenal to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -11% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.4 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Fastenal insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $1,896,948.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.28% of the stock of Fastenal is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

81.38% of the stock of Fastenal is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 7/14/2026
• Record date for 8/25 Dividend: 7/28/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 8/25 Dividend: 7/28/2026
• Dividend Payable: 8/25/2026
• Today: 9/13/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 10/14/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Industrials
• Industry: Trading Companies & Distributors
• Sub-Industry: Trading Companies & Distributors
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:FAST
• CIK: 815556
• Web: www.fastenal.com
• Phone: (507) 454-5374
• Fax: 507-453-8049
• Employees: 24,489
• Year Founded: 1967

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Fastenal: $49.17
• High Price Target: $55.00
• Low Price Target: $42.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: -0.3%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.31
• Research Coverage: 13 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $1.18
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 41.80
• Forward P/E Ratio: 39.14
• P/E Growth: 3.08
• Net Income: $1.26 billion
• Net Margins: 15.45%
• Pretax Margin: 20.30%
• Return on Equity: 34.03%
• Return on Assets: 26.16%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.01
• Current Ratio: 4.18
• Quick Ratio: 2.21

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $8.75 billion
• Price / Sales: 6.47
• Cash Flow: $1.25 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 39.39
• Book Value: $3.43 per share
• Price / Book: 14.38

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 1,147,498,000
• Free Float: 1,144,285,000
• Market Cap: $56.59 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.72