Forward Air Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:FWRD)

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors acquired 9,170 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 867% compared to the typical volume of 948 put options.

Institutional Trading of Forward Air

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Forward Air by 688.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 326,921 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $11,573,000 after purchasing an additional 285,465 shares in the last quarter. Goldentree Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Forward Air in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $14,270,000. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in Forward Air by 1,481.6% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 208,396 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $7,377,000 after purchasing an additional 195,220 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP increased its stake in Forward Air by 73.0% during the 3rd quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP now owns 78,803 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $2,790,000 after purchasing an additional 33,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Forward Air by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 97,148 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $3,133,000 after buying an additional 6,629 shares during the period. 97.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on FWRD shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Forward Air from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Forward Air in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Forward Air from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.00.

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Forward Air Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of FWRD stock traded down $0.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $20.91. The company had a trading volume of 538,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 854,314. Forward Air has a 1-year low of $11.21 and a 1-year high of $40.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.07, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $605.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.88 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.49 and a 200 day moving average of $32.14.

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.