Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) Short Interest Update

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,700,000 shares, an increase of 10.8% from the March 15th total of 3,340,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 970,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days. Currently, 15.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Forward Air Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FWRD opened at $25.22 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38. Forward Air has a 12-month low of $24.11 and a 12-month high of $121.38. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $32.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.42. The firm has a market cap of $665.05 million, a PE ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.98.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The transportation company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $338.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.96 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Forward Air will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FWRD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Forward Air from $80.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com cut Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird decreased 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. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Forward Air from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Forward Air presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.14.

Institutional Trading of Forward Air

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Forward Air by 15,487.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 726,538 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $49,942,000 after acquiring an additional 721,877 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Forward Air in the 4th quarter valued at $43,281,000. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Forward Air by 809.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 683,566 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $46,988,000 after purchasing an additional 608,430 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 54.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,213,405 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $83,410,000 after buying an additional 428,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Forward Air during the 3rd quarter worth $27,870,000. 97.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.