Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) Reaches New 52-Week Low at $26.30

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $26.30 and last traded at $26.43, with a volume of 217347 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $27.60.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on FWRD shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Forward Air from $80.00 to $55.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research cut shares of Forward Air from a "peer perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Benchmark reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Forward Air in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Forward Air from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Forward Air from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $80.14.

Forward Air Price Performance

The stock's 50 day moving average is $33.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $674.54 million, a PE ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The transportation company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.16). Forward Air had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 10.58%. The firm had revenue of $338.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $406.96 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Forward Air Co. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Forward Air

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FWRD. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Forward Air by 12.3% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,836 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $570,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Forward Air by 3.9% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,053 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Forward Air by 7.7% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 24,107 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $2,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Forward Air by 55.8% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 13,970 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 5,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Forward Air by 5.7% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 68,402 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $6,688,000 after purchasing an additional 3,715 shares during the last quarter. 97.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.