Swiss National Bank Buys 2,000 Shares of Forward Air Corporation $FWRD

Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD) by 4.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 42,900 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.14% of Forward Air worth $862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FWRD. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 30,042 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,773 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Forward Air during the fourth quarter worth $320,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Forward Air during the fourth quarter worth $1,242,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of Forward Air during the fourth quarter worth $904,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,950 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,524 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FWRD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Forward Air from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Forward Air from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Forward Air from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Forward Air presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.75.

Forward Air Price Performance

FWRD stock opened at $29.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $921.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.00 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.91. Forward Air Corporation has a 12-month low of $9.78 and a 12-month high of $40.92. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.37.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The transportation company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $618.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $627.98 million. Forward Air had a negative net margin of 6.86% and a negative return on equity of 40.36%. Forward Air’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($23.29) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Forward Air Corporation will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current year.

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 shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, customs brokerage, and other handling.