Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Susquehanna Analyst Says

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) had its price objective hoisted by Susquehanna from $40.00 to $43.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “positive” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Susquehanna’s price objective points to a potential upside of 48.33% from the company’s previous close.

FWRD has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Forward Air from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Forward Air from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.75.

Forward Air Stock Down 0.4%

FWRD stock opened at $28.99 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $892.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.84 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.91. Forward Air has a 12 month low of $9.78 and a 12 month high of $40.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.64.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 11th. The transportation company reported ($0.41) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $618.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $627.98 million. Forward Air had a negative net margin of 6.86% and a negative return on equity of 40.36%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($23.29) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Forward Air will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Forward Air

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FWRD. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Forward Air by 1,194.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $934,000 after purchasing an additional 42,914 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Forward Air by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 294,682 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $5,920,000 after purchasing an additional 21,220 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Forward Air by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 99,821 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,005,000 after purchasing an additional 2,673 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Forward Air during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,242,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in shares of Forward Air by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 30,042 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,773 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

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.