Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Boosts Stock Holdings in Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) by 44.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,142,575 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 352,776 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 4.40% of Forward Air worth $123,124,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,118,552 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $402,713,000 after purchasing an additional 36,722 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Forward Air by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,934,717 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $264,887,000 after acquiring an additional 25,141 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Forward Air by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,753,799 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $155,754,000 after acquiring an additional 269,446 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in Forward Air by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,518,110 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $163,592,000 after acquiring an additional 142,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Forward Air by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 1,229,373 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $132,477,000 after acquiring an additional 36,829 shares in the last quarter. 97.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FWRD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Forward Air in a report on Monday, August 7th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Forward Air from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 28th. TheStreet lowered shares of Forward Air from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $110.00 to $85.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 29th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Forward Air from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Laurie Anne Tucker purchased 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $61.23 per share, with a total value of $244,920.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,573 shares in the company, valued at approximately $953,534.79. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Kyle R. Mitchin acquired 1,093 shares of Forward Air stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $68.63 per share, for a total transaction of $75,012.59. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 18,896 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,832.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laurie Anne Tucker acquired 4,000 shares of Forward Air stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $61.23 per share, for a total transaction of $244,920.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 15,573 shares in the company, valued at approximately $953,534.79. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 23,302 shares of company stock valued at $1,471,544. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Forward Air Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of FWRD opened at $69.94 on Wednesday. Forward Air Co. has a 52-week low of $60.09 and a 52-week high of $121.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $92.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.44. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a PE ratio of 12.36 and a beta of 1.20.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The transportation company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.37). The firm had revenue of $402.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $444.15 million. Forward Air had a net margin of 8.32% and a return on equity of 22.82%. The company’s revenue was down 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.04 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Forward Air Co. will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Forward Air Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 16th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Forward Air’s payout ratio is 16.96%.

Forward Air 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 final mile, truckload, shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, customs brokerage, and other handling.