Littlejohn & Co. LLC Boosts Position in Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD)

Key Points

• Littlejohn & Co. LLC increased its stake in Forward Air Corporation by 70.1% in the first quarter, making it the firm's largest holding.
• Analysts have recently upgraded Forward Air's stock, with Wall Street Zen moving it from a "sell" to a "hold" rating and Susquehanna raising the price target from $40 to $43.
• Forward Air reported a loss with earnings per share of ($0.41), missing estimates, and experienced a 3.9% decrease in quarterly revenue year-over-year.

Littlejohn & Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD - Free Report) by 70.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,814,401 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,159,747 shares during the quarter. Forward Air accounts for 29.4% of Littlejohn & Co. LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Littlejohn & Co. LLC owned 9.26% of Forward Air worth $56,541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FWRD. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Forward Air by 812.5% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Forward Air by 81.3% during the first quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 1,940 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Forward Air in the 4th quarter valued at $72,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Forward Air in the 4th quarter valued at $138,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in Forward Air by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 6,949 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. 97.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on FWRD. Wall Street Zen raised Forward Air from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st. Susquehanna increased their price target on Forward Air from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Forward Air from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $37.75.

Forward Air Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ FWRD opened at $28.99 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $892.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.84 and a beta of 1.43. The business's fifty day moving average is $26.13 and its 200-day moving average is $22.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.91, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Forward Air Corporation has a one year low of $9.78 and a one year high of $40.92.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The transportation company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $618.84 million for 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%. Forward Air's quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($23.29) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Forward Air Corporation will post -0.72 EPS for the current year.

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.

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