Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday. The stock had previously closed at $25.88, but opened at $23.63. Fortrea shares last traded at $22.6190, with a volume of 372,720 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FTRE. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Fortrea from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Barclays upgraded Fortrea from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Fortrea from $19.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $23.00 target price on Fortrea in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Fortrea from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortrea currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.80.

Fortrea Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $20.12 and its 200-day moving average is $15.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.93, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.93.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $691.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $671.57 million. Fortrea had a positive return on equity of 10.72% and a negative net margin of 3.18%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Fortrea Holdings Inc. will post 0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Anshul Thakral sold 99,869 shares of Fortrea stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $1,913,490.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 316,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,069,830.52. This trade represents a 23.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Company insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Fortrea during the 2nd quarter worth $41,488,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Fortrea by 81.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,432,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,496,000 after acquiring an additional 643,000 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Health Investments LP increased its stake in Fortrea by 7.3% in the first quarter. Eagle Health Investments LP now owns 1,307,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,317,000 after acquiring an additional 89,000 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Fortrea by 163.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,299,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,241,000 after acquiring an additional 807,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its position in Fortrea by 26.7% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 389,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,771,000 after purchasing an additional 82,059 shares in the last quarter.

Fortrea Company Profile

Fortrea Holdings Inc is a global contract research organization (CRO) that provides services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. The company helps clients plan, manage and execute clinical development programs, supporting the testing of new medicines and therapies from early-stage research through regulatory approval and post-approval activities.

Its services include Phase I through Phase IV clinical trials, clinical operations, patient recruitment and access, data management, biostatistics, medical monitoring, pharmacovigilance and regulatory support.