Hsbc Holdings PLC Decreases Position in Forward Air Corporation $FWRD

Key Points

• Hsbc Holdings PLC reduced its stake in Forward Air Corporation by 40.2%, now owning 16,913 shares valued at approximately $340,000.
• Forward Air reported a loss of ($0.41) earnings per share, significantly missing the expected ($0.17) EPS, alongside a revenue decline of 3.9% year-over-year.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Forward Air, with Susquehanna setting a new target of $43.00 and Stifel Nicolaus raising theirs to $33.00, reflecting a positive outlook on the stock.

Hsbc Holdings PLC decreased its stake in shares of Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD - Free Report) by 40.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,913 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 11,355 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.06% of Forward Air worth $340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of Forward Air by 43.7% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 54,773 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,100,000 after acquiring an additional 16,659 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Forward Air by 188.2% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 28,349 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 18,511 shares in the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in Forward Air by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 10,980 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,684 shares during the last quarter. Littlejohn & Co. LLC raised its holdings in Forward Air by 70.1% in the 1st quarter. Littlejohn & Co. LLC now owns 2,814,401 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $56,541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,159,747 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Forward Air by 27.1% in the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 63,343 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,273,000 after acquiring an additional 13,523 shares during the last quarter. 97.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Forward Air Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Forward Air stock traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $29.72. The stock had a trading volume of 148,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 645,390. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.91. Forward Air Corporation has a 1 year low of $9.78 and a 1 year high of $40.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $914.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.96 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.27.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Forward Air from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report 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 report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Forward Air from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.75.

Forward Air 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.