Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.14.

FWRD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Forward Air from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Forward Air from $80.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Forward Air from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th.

Institutional Trading of Forward Air

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CWM LLC grew its stake in Forward Air by 86.9% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 669 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Forward Air in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Forward Air by 413.5% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 837 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 674 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Forward Air by 306.9% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 948 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 715 shares during the period. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Forward Air by 116,200.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,163 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 1,162 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

Forward Air Trading Up 3.1 %

NASDAQ FWRD opened at $21.78 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $28.03 and a 200 day moving average of $48.27. The company has a market capitalization of $574.34 million, a PE ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.06. Forward Air has a 1 year low of $20.95 and a 1 year high of $121.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

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

About Forward Air

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.