Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during 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. Currently, 15.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 970,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP lifted its position in Forward Air by 156.2% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 456 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Forward Air in the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Forward Air by 39.5% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 653 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Forward Air by 86.9% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 669 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Forward Air by 137.8% during the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 761 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Forward Air Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ FWRD opened at $25.22 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $32.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. Forward Air has a 52-week low of $24.11 and a 52-week high of $121.38. The stock 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The transportation company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $338.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.96 million. Forward Air had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 10.58%. The firm’s revenue was down 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Forward Air will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.