Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) Short Interest Update

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,700,000 shares, an increase of 10.8% from the March 15th total of 3,340,000 shares. Approximately 15.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 970,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Forward Air

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Forward Air during the 3rd quarter valued at $17,743,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in Forward Air in the 3rd quarter worth $27,870,000. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Forward Air by 809.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 683,566 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $46,988,000 after acquiring an additional 608,430 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Forward Air in the 3rd quarter worth $1,895,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Forward Air by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 673,369 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $46,287,000 after acquiring an additional 45,912 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

Forward Air Stock Down 7.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ FWRD opened at $25.58 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $674.54 million, a PE ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.04. Forward Air has a 12-month low of $25.38 and a 12-month high of $121.38.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The transportation company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.16). Forward Air had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 15.30%. The business had revenue of $338.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $406.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Forward Air will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FWRD shares. StockNews.com cut Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Forward Air from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Forward Air from $80.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Forward Air from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.14.

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.