Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

FWRD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Wall Street Zen cut Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Forward Air from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Forward Air currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.67.

Forward Air Stock Performance

Shares of Forward Air stock opened at $25.24 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $21.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $788.75 million, a P/E ratio of -6.56 and a beta of 1.37. Forward Air has a fifty-two week low of $9.78 and a fifty-two week high of $35.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.73, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The transportation company reported ($0.52) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.39). The firm had revenue of $631.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $645.45 million. Forward Air had a negative net margin of 4.64% and a negative return on equity of 33.13%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($2.62) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Forward Air will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Forward Air

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FWRD. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Forward Air by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,050,268 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $41,190,000 after purchasing an additional 6,702 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 0.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 761,231 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $15,293,000 after buying an additional 5,388 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of Forward Air by 4.9% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 42,900 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $862,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Forward Air by 43.5% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 273,211 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $5,489,000 after acquiring an additional 82,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Forward Air in the 1st quarter worth about $1,843,000. Institutional investors 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.