Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.40.

A number of research firms have issued reports on FWRD. Jefferies Financial Group set a $47.00 target price on shares of Forward Air and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Forward Air from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Forward Air from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Forward Air in a report on Monday, August 12th.

Forward Air Trading Up 0.8 %

FWRD stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $36.89. The company had a trading volume of 306,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,018,957. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $34.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.92. Forward Air has a 12 month low of $11.21 and a 12 month high of $77.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.70. The stock has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.77 and a beta of 1.02.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The transportation company reported ($23.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($23.11). The firm had revenue of $643.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $642.92 million. Forward Air had a negative return on equity of 79.11% and a negative net margin of 30.77%. The company's revenue was up 92.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Forward Air will post -1.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Forward Air

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FWRD. Gladius Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Forward Air by 33.5% in the 2nd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,964 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 3.9% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 15,900 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Forward Air by 62.2% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,990 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 763 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 98.5% during the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,634 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 811 shares during the period. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC lifted its position in Forward Air by 36.2% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 3,220 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.