Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Forward Air from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Forward Air from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.75.

Forward Air Trading Down 3.9%

Shares of FWRD stock opened at $21.72 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.91. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $27.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.14. Forward Air has a 12-month low of $9.78 and a 12-month high of $40.92. The firm has a market cap of $668.76 million, a P/E ratio of -3.63 and a beta of 1.39.

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

Institutional Trading of Forward Air

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FWRD. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Forward Air by 1,194.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $934,000 after buying an additional 42,914 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Forward Air in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,750,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Forward Air by 81.3% in the 1st quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 1,940 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 870 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Forward Air by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 99,821 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,005,000 after buying an additional 2,673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Forward Air by 7.8% in 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 buying an additional 21,220 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.