Forward Air's (FWRD) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Benchmark in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on FWRD. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Forward Air from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Forward Air from $80.00 to $55.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research downgraded Forward Air from a "peer perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Forward Air from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Two investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $80.14.

Forward Air Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ FWRD traded down $0.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $23.30. The stock had a trading volume of 1,037,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 937,016. Forward Air has a fifty-two week low of $22.08 and a fifty-two week high of $121.38. 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 firm has a market cap of $614.42 million, a P/E ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.98. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $30.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.78.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The transportation company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.16). Forward Air had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 10.58%. The business had revenue of $338.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Forward Air will post 0.56 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Forward Air during the third quarter valued at about $17,743,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in Forward Air in the third quarter worth about $27,870,000. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Forward Air by 809.8% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 683,566 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $46,988,000 after buying an additional 608,430 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Forward Air during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,895,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Forward Air by 7.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 673,369 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $46,287,000 after purchasing an additional 45,912 shares in 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.