Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $33.73, but opened at $31.81. Forward Air shares last traded at $31.39, with a volume of 271,132 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on FWRD shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Forward Air from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Forward Air and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Forward Air from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Forward Air to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.25.

Forward Air Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.82 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.70, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.51.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The transportation company reported ($23.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $643.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $642.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. Forward Air’s revenue was up 92.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Forward Air Co. will post -1.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Forward Air

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Forward Air by 62.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,990 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 763 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Forward Air in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Forward Air by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,885 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 89.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,768 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $133,000 after buying an additional 1,776 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Forward Air in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. 97.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Forward Air

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.