Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) Receives $57.80 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $57.80.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FWRD. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target 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. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Forward Air from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a report on Monday, August 12th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Forward Air

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Forward Air by 413.5% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 837 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 674 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Forward Air during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Gladius Capital Management LP increased its position in Forward Air by 33.5% during the 2nd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,964 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Forward Air by 2,329.3% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,992 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 811 shares in the last quarter. 97.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Forward Air Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FWRD opened at $28.55 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $22.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.63. Forward Air has a 52-week low of $11.21 and a 52-week high of $79.51. The company has a market cap of $754.80 million, a P/E ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The transportation company reported ($23.29) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($23.11). The firm had revenue of $643.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $642.92 million. Forward Air had a net margin of 4.08% and a return on equity of 5.37%. Forward Air’s quarterly revenue was up 92.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Forward Air will post -0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.