Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD) has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from six rating firms, with one sell, two hold, and three buy ratings.
• The average twelve-month price target for Forward Air stock is $37.75, showing a potential for stock price appreciation based on analysts' assessments.
• In the most recent quarter, Forward Air reported a loss of ($0.41) EPS, missing analysts' expectations, alongside a 3.9% year-over-year decline in revenue.

Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $37.75.

Several equities research analysts have commented on FWRD shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Forward Air from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Forward Air from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Forward Air in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on Forward Air from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FWRD. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Forward Air by 1,194.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,508 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $934,000 after buying an additional 42,914 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Forward Air in the 1st quarter valued at $2,750,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Forward Air by 81.3% in the 1st quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 1,940 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Forward Air by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 99,821 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $2,005,000 after purchasing an additional 2,673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Forward Air by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 294,682 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $5,920,000 after purchasing an additional 21,220 shares during the last quarter. 97.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Forward Air Trading Down 4.0%

Forward Air stock opened at $22.59 on Friday. 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 has a 12 month low of $9.78 and a 12 month high of $40.92. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $28.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.11. The firm has a market cap of $695.55 million, a PE ratio of -3.77 and a beta of 1.39.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 11th. The transportation company reported ($0.41) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $618.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $627.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($23.29) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Forward Air 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.