Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) Trading 3.3% Higher

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) shares shot up 3.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $25.39 and last traded at $25.34. 312,125 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 933,527 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.52.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Forward Air Stock Up 3.0 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $665.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $33.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.73.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The transportation company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Forward Air Co. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Forward Air

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Forward Air in the 3rd quarter worth about $17,743,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in Forward Air in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,870,000. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in Forward Air by 809.8% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 683,566 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $46,988,000 after buying an additional 608,430 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Forward Air in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,895,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Forward Air by 7.3% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 673,369 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $46,287,000 after buying an additional 45,912 shares during the period. 97.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Forward Air

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.