William Blair Issues Positive Estimate for Fastenal Earnings

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) – William Blair raised their FY2026 EPS estimates for Fastenal in a report issued on Monday, March 10th. William Blair analyst R. Merkel now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $2.34 for the year, up from their prior estimate of $2.31. William Blair has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Fastenal’s current full-year earnings is $2.15 per share.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on FAST. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target 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. HSBC downgraded shares of Fastenal from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fastenal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.91.

Fastenal Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Fastenal stock opened at $75.99 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.81, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 4.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Fastenal has a 12-month low of $61.36 and a 12-month high of $84.88. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $74.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.20.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $134,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,102,000. Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in Fastenal by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 25,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,816,000 after buying an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. Perennial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,885,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Fastenal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $247,000. Institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Fastenal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.57%.

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.