Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on FTRE. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortrea in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Fortrea from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Fortrea in a research report on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Fortrea in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Fortrea from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortrea presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.10.

Fortrea Stock Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:FTRE opened at $21.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.92 and a 200-day moving average of $16.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of -23.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.93. Fortrea has a 52 week low of $8.55 and a 52 week high of $23.51.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.05. Fortrea had a positive return on equity of 10.72% and a negative net margin of 3.18%. The business had revenue of $678.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $647.57 million. Analysts predict that Fortrea will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Fortrea

In related news, CEO Anshul Thakral sold 99,869 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $1,913,490.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 316,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,069,830.52. This represents a 23.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FTRE. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Fortrea in the second quarter worth approximately $41,488,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Fortrea by 81.4% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,432,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,496,000 after purchasing an additional 643,000 shares during the period. Eagle Health Investments LP increased its position in shares of Fortrea by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Eagle Health Investments LP now owns 1,307,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,317,000 after purchasing an additional 89,000 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Fortrea by 163.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,299,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,241,000 after buying an additional 807,081 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its stake in shares of Fortrea by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 389,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,771,000 after buying an additional 82,059 shares in the last quarter.

Fortrea Company Profile

Fortrea Holdings Inc is a global contract research organization (CRO) that provides services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. The company supports the development and commercialization of healthcare products across a range of therapeutic areas.

Its services include clinical trial management, study design, patient recruitment and engagement, data management, biostatistics, regulatory support, medical affairs and post-approval services. Fortrea also provides technology-enabled and decentralized clinical trial solutions intended to help sponsors conduct research across traditional and remote settings.

Fortrea serves customers internationally, with operations and clinical trial capabilities spanning North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other global markets.