Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) Stock Price Down 3%

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) shares fell 3% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $24.35 and last traded at $24.46. 21,310 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 98% from the average session volume of 927,479 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.22.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on FWRD. StockNews.com downgraded Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective 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 objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Forward Air from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.14.

Forward Air Stock Performance

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 $614.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $32.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.42.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $338.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.96 million. Forward Air had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 15.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Forward Air Co. will post 0.56 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Forward Air

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 0.9% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,118,552 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $402,713,000 after purchasing an additional 36,722 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,982,873 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $187,533,000 after purchasing an additional 63,322 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 18.2% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,753,799 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $155,754,000 after purchasing an additional 269,446 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Forward Air by 54.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,213,405 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $83,410,000 after buying an additional 428,912 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in Forward Air by 7.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,056,548 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $103,309,000 after buying an additional 72,215 shares during the period. 97.03% of the stock is 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.