Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) Raised to “Peer Perform” at Wolfe Research

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wolfe Research from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. William Blair upgraded Fastenal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. HSBC lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.91.

Fastenal Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Fastenal stock opened at $78.01 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $75.46 and its 200 day moving average is $76.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.73 billion, a PE ratio of 38.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.04. Fastenal has a 1 year low of $61.36 and a 1 year high of $84.88. The company has a current ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Fastenal had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 15.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fastenal

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of FAST. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 24,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,785,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Fastenal by 1.0% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 216,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,438,000 after purchasing an additional 2,103 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 0.3% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 73,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,257,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Fastenal by 3.8% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 5,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Fastenal by 12.4% during the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 549 shares in the last quarter. 81.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Fastenal

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.