Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) Shares Up 4.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) shares shot up 4.7% during trading on Wednesday after Robert W. Baird raised their price target on the stock from $14.00 to $17.00. Robert W. Baird currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Forward Air traded as high as $20.36 and last traded at $20.24. 56,154 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 95% from the average session volume of 1,135,704 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.34.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com cut Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Forward Air from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.86.

Institutional Trading of Forward Air

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 14.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,407,797 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $106,017,000 after purchasing an additional 424,924 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Forward Air during the first quarter worth about $31,007,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 803,393 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $50,511,000 after purchasing an additional 25,523 shares during the period. Ridgemont Partners Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Forward Air during the first quarter worth about $21,796,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Forward Air during the fourth quarter worth about $43,281,000. 97.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Forward Air Trading Up 4.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $18.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.52. The company has a market capitalization of $535.15 million, a PE ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 1.00.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The transportation company reported ($0.64) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by ($0.49). Forward Air had a return on equity of 5.37% and a net margin of 4.08%. The firm had revenue of $541.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $644.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Forward Air Co. will post -0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Forward Air Company Profile

Forward Air Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an asset-light freight and logistics company in the United States and Canada. It operates in two segments, Expedited Freight and Intermodal. The Expedited Freight segment provides expedited regional, inter-regional, and national less-than-truckload services; local pick-up and delivery services; and other services, which include shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, customs brokerage, and other handling.