Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $7.00 to $11.00. The stock had previously closed at $9.31, but opened at $9.79. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the stock. Fortrea shares last traded at $9.65, with a volume of 43,243 shares trading hands.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on FTRE. Baird R W upgraded shares of Fortrea from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Fortrea from $6.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Fortrea from $7.00 to $9.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Fortrea in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Fortrea from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortrea currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.17.

Insider Activity at Fortrea

In other Fortrea news, Director Erin L. Russell bought 9,854 shares of Fortrea stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $10.15 per share, with a total value of $100,018.10. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,018.10. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Peter M. Neupert bought 32,500 shares of Fortrea stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $6.26 per share, for a total transaction of $203,450.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 98,132 shares in the company, valued at $614,306.32. The trade was a 49.52% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 72,354 shares of company stock valued at $507,168 and have sold 10,311 shares valued at $94,635. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortrea

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTRE. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Fortrea by 494.8% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,515,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,729,000 after acquiring an additional 5,419,842 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Fortrea by 1,625.8% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,499,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,419,000 after buying an additional 3,296,461 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Fortrea in the first quarter worth about $9,232,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Fortrea by 17,183.6% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,165,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,796,000 after buying an additional 1,158,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in Fortrea in the second quarter worth about $5,087,000.

Fortrea Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $919.80 million, a PE ratio of -0.89 and a beta of 1.81.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.13. Fortrea had a negative net margin of 37.57% and a positive return on equity of 5.25%. The firm had revenue of $710.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $631.61 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Fortrea Holdings Inc. will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortrea Company Profile

Fortrea Holdings Inc, a contract research organization, primarily engages in the provision of biopharmaceutical product and medical device development services worldwide. The company operates through two segments: Clinical Services and Enabling Services. The Clinical Services segment provides across the clinical pharmacology and clinical development spectrum.