Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) Upgraded to “Sell” at StockNews.com

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

FWRD has been the subject of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $47.00 target price on shares of Forward Air and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Forward Air from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Forward Air from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a report on Monday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Forward Air currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.25.

Forward Air Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FWRD traded up $1.42 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $37.92. 1,491,924 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 676,410. Forward Air has a fifty-two week low of $11.21 and a fifty-two week high of $68.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of -1.82 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.51.

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

Institutional Trading of Forward Air

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FWRD. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in Forward Air in the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Forward Air in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Forward Air by 98.5% in the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,634 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 811 shares in the last quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Forward Air by 33.5% during the 2nd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,964 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 763 shares in the last quarter. 97.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.