The Vanguard Group, Inc. recently announced the acquisition of new stake in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST). The institutional investor has increased its shareholding in the Industrials company by 0.97% to 67.21 million shares with purchase of 0.65 million shares. This fresh investment now brings its stake to 11.77% valued currently at $3.47 billion. In addition, BlackRock Fund Advisors raised its holdings by 0.62 million to 31.25 million shares. And SSgA Funds Management, Inc. has lifted its position by 0.79% or 0.22 million shares – to 28.22 million shares.
With over 4.11 million Fastenal Company (FAST) shares trading Friday and a closing price of $51.52 on the day, the dollar volume was approximately $211.74 million. The shares have shown a positive half year performance of 1.66% and its price on 03/10/23 lost nearly -1.11%. Currently, there are 571.01M common shares owned by the public and among those 569.74M shares have been available to trade.
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An analysis of what Wall Street brokers have to say about the expected price targets for this stock gives us this picture: 16 analysts who have offered their price forecasts for FAST have a consensus price objective of $51.13. The analysts have set the share’s price value over the next 12 months at a high of $56.00 and a low of $42.00. The average price target is -1.84% below its recent price level and a downside to the estimated low will see the stock lose -22.67% over that period. But an upside of 8.0% will see the stock hit the forecast high price target while median target price for the stock is $51.65.
Insiders at the company have transacted a total of 29 times over the past 12 months, according to data filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 23 of these insider trades were purchases, accounting for 68,597 shares. Insider sales of the common stock occurred on 6 occasions, with total insider shares sold totaling 46,136 shares.
The top 3 mutual fund holders in Fastenal Company are Vanguard Total Stock Market Index, Vanguard Mid Cap Index Fund, and Vanguard 500 Index Fund. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index owns 17.56 million shares of the company’s stock, all valued at over $905.44 million. The company bought an additional 0.14 million shares recently to bring their total holdings to about 3.08% of the shares outstanding. Vanguard Mid Cap Index Fund bought 21460.0 shares to see its total holdings expand to 13.35 million shares valued at over $688.58 million and representing 2.34% of the shares outstanding. Vanguard 500 Index Fund bought 31438.0 shares to bring its total holdings to over 13.27 million shares at a value of $684.05 million. Vanguard 500 Index Fund now owns shares totaling to 2.32% of the shares outstanding.
Shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST) opened at $52.12, up $0.02 from a prior closing price of $52.10. However, the script later moved the day high at 53.13, down -1.11%. The company’s stock has a 5-day price change of -4.02% and 2.53% over the past three months. FAST shares are trading 8.88% year to date (YTD), with the 12-month market performance down to -5.92% lower. It has a 12-month low price of $43.73 and touched a high of $60.74 over the same period. FAST has an average intraday trading volume of 3.35 million shares. The stock is trading above its simple moving averages at the SMA20, SMA50, and SMA200, as the current price level is off by -1.64%, 1.83%, and 2.60% respectively.
Institutional ownership of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST) shares accounts for 79.30% of the company’s 571.01M shares outstanding. Mutual fund holders own 42.86%, while other institutional holders and individual stakeholders account for 6.47% and 38.23% respectively.
It has a market capitalization of $29.75B and a beta (3y monthly) value of 1.18. The stock’s trailing 12-month PE ratio is 27.29, while the earnings-per-share (ttm) stands at $1.89. The company has a PEG of 4.31 and a Quick Ratio of 1.80 with the debt-to-equity ratio at 0.18. Price movements for the stock have been influenced by the stock’s volatility, which stands at 2.24% over the week and 2.06% over the month.
Analysts forecast that Fastenal Company (FAST) will achieve an EPS of $0.49 for the current quarter, $0.52 for the next quarter and $2.11 for 2024. The lowest estimate earnings-per-share for the quarter is $0.48 while analysts give the company a high EPS estimate of $0.52. Comparatively, EPS for the current quarter was $0.47 a year ago. Earnings per share for the fiscal year are expected to increase by 17.80%, and 7.23% over the next financial year. EPS should shrink at an annualized rate of 6.33% over the next five years, compared to 14.50% over the past 5-year period.
If you are looking to buy this stock, then you may note that the average analyst recommendation by 16 brokerage firm advisors rate Fastenal Company (FAST) as a “Hold” at a consensus score of 3.10. Specifically, 2 Wall Street analysts polled rate the stock as a buy, while 10 of the 16 advise that investors “hold,” and 3 rated it as a “Sell.”
Looking at the support for the FAST, a number of firms have released research notes about the stock. Jefferies stated their Hold rating for the stock in a research note on October 17, 2022, with the firm’s price target at $50. Robert W. Baird coverage for the Fastenal Company (FAST) stock in a research note released on July 14, 2022 offered a Neutral rating with a price target of $48. Wells Fargo was of a view on March 08, 2022 that the stock is Equal Weight, while Wells Fargo gave the stock Underweight rating on October 08, 2021, issuing a price target of $50- $45. Loop Capital on their part issued Hold rating on August 03, 2021.
