Investors Purchase Large Volume of Fortrea Call Options (NASDAQ:FTRE)

Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders bought 22,840 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,059% compared to the average volume of 1,058 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Baird R W cut Fortrea from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Fortrea from $26.00 to $21.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Fortrea from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Fortrea from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $25.00 to $21.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Fortrea from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $24.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortrea

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. grew its position in shares of Fortrea by 86.4% during the 3rd quarter. Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. now owns 1,097,196 shares of the company's stock worth $21,944,000 after buying an additional 508,664 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortrea in the second quarter worth about $23,192,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortrea by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 495,444 shares of the company's stock worth $9,909,000 after acquiring an additional 40,748 shares in the last quarter. Starboard Value LP increased its position in Fortrea by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Starboard Value LP now owns 8,400,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $168,000,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortrea by 40.4% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 377,382 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,808,000 after purchasing an additional 108,500 shares in the last quarter.

Fortrea Trading Down 8.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ FTRE traded down $1.90 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $21.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,059,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,448,764. The business's 50 day moving average is $19.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.38. Fortrea has a 12-month low of $16.53 and a 12-month high of $41.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.16.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $674.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $674.86 million. Fortrea had a positive return on equity of 2.00% and a negative net margin of 10.99%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fortrea will post 0.57 EPS for the current 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.