Ancora Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Forward Air Corporation $FWRD

Key Points

• Ancora Advisors LLC increased its stake in Forward Air Corporation by 28.9% in Q1, now owning over 1.23 million shares valued at approximately $24.72 million.
• Major hedge funds also boosted their positions, with Littlejohn & Co. LLC increasing its stake by 70.1%, holding around $56.54 million in shares.
• Despite analyst upgrades, including a price target increase from $29.00 to $33.00, Forward Air's stock is currently down by 2.5%.

Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its position in Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD - Free Report) by 28.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,230,390 shares of the transportation company's stock after buying an additional 275,500 shares during the quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC owned approximately 4.04% of Forward Air worth $24,719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Forward Air by 1,194.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,508 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $934,000 after purchasing an additional 42,914 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in Forward Air by 7.8% in the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 294,682 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $5,920,000 after purchasing an additional 21,220 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Forward Air by 2.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 99,821 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $2,005,000 after purchasing an additional 2,673 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Forward Air by 43.5% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 273,211 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $5,489,000 after purchasing an additional 82,834 shares during the period. Finally, Kintayl Capital LP lifted its position in Forward Air by 33.0% in the first quarter. Kintayl Capital LP now owns 223,087 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $4,482,000 after purchasing an additional 55,330 shares during the period. 97.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on FWRD shares. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Forward Air from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Forward Air from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Forward Air from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Forward Air presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.75.

Forward Air Trading Down 0.2%

FWRD stock traded down $0.05 during trading on Monday, hitting $29.69. The company had a trading volume of 80,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 645,011. The stock has a market cap of $914.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.96 and a beta of 1.40. Forward Air Corporation has a 12 month low of $9.78 and a 12 month high of $40.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $28.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.91.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The transportation company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.17) by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $618.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $627.98 million. Forward Air had a negative net margin of 6.86% and a negative return on equity of 40.36%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($23.29) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Forward Air Corporation will post -0.72 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.