Forward Air’s (FWRD) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Benchmark

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD)‘s stock had its “hold” rating restated by analysts at Benchmark in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports.

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

Forward Air Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FWRD opened at $23.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $607.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.98. Forward Air has a 1-year low of $22.08 and a 1-year high of $121.38. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $30.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The transportation company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $338.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.96 million. Forward Air had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 10.58%. The business’s revenue was down 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Forward Air will post 0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 15,487.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 726,538 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $49,942,000 after acquiring an additional 721,877 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Forward Air during the fourth quarter valued at $43,281,000. UBS Group AG grew its stake in Forward Air by 809.8% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 683,566 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $46,988,000 after purchasing an additional 608,430 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Forward Air in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,870,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group purchased a new stake in shares of Forward Air during the 3rd quarter worth about $22,874,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

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.