Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $51.00.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on FWRD shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Forward Air from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Forward Air from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a report on Monday, August 12th.

Institutional Trading of Forward Air

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Forward Air by 413.5% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 837 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Forward Air by 116,200.0% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,163 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,162 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Forward Air in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Forward Air by 98.5% in the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,634 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gladius Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Forward Air by 33.5% in the second quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,964 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 493 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

Forward Air Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FWRD opened at $34.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $899.42 million, a PE ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 1.02. Forward Air has a 1 year low of $11.21 and a 1 year high of $79.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.70.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The transportation company reported ($23.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($23.11). Forward Air had a negative net margin of 30.77% and a negative return on equity of 79.11%. The firm had revenue of $643.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $642.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 92.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Forward Air will post -1.01 EPS for the current fiscal 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.