Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Decreases Stake in Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lowered its position in Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) by 61.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,635 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 7,483 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Forward Air were worth $291,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FWRD. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Forward Air by 86.9% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 669 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Forward Air in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,044,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Forward Air by 31.9% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 6,247 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 1,510 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Forward Air by 49.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 178,250 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $12,253,000 after acquiring an additional 59,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Forward Air by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 4,343 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 588 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FWRD has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Forward Air from $80.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research downgraded Forward Air from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Forward Air from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research note on Wednesday. Two 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 company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.14.

Forward Air Stock Performance

Shares of FWRD opened at $22.27 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $587.26 million, a PE ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.98. 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 50-day moving average price of $30.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.39. Forward Air Co. has a 12-month low of $21.70 and a 12-month high of $121.38.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The transportation company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $338.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.96 million. Forward Air had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 15.30%. The business’s revenue was down 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Forward Air Co. will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.