Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) Stock Price Up 3.3%

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD)’s share price rose 3.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $25.39 and last traded at $25.34. Approximately 312,125 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 933,527 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FWRD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Forward Air from $80.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research lowered Forward Air from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com lowered Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Forward Air presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.14.

Forward Air Stock Down 10.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $597.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Institutional Trading of Forward Air

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 0.9% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,118,552 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $402,713,000 after purchasing an additional 36,722 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,982,873 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $187,533,000 after purchasing an additional 63,322 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 18.2% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,753,799 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $155,754,000 after purchasing an additional 269,446 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 54.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,213,405 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $83,410,000 after purchasing an additional 428,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 7.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,056,548 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $103,309,000 after purchasing an additional 72,215 shares during the last quarter. 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.