Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) Stock Short Interest Falls 38.9%

Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 7,675,846 shares, a decline of 38.9% from the September 30th total of 12,564,688 shares. Approximately 8.1% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,888,678 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Fortrea Price Performance

FTRE traded down $1.27 during trading on Monday, reaching $20.02. 1,752,183 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,563,048. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.93. Fortrea has a 1 year low of $8.55 and a 1 year high of $26.16. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $20.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.74.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $691.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $671.57 million. Fortrea had a positive return on equity of 13.98% and a negative net margin of 2.58%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortrea will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTRE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortrea in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Fortrea from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on Fortrea from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Fortrea from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Fortrea from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.95.

Insider Activity at Fortrea

In other news, CEO Anshul Thakral sold 99,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total transaction of $1,913,490.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 316,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,069,830.52. This represents a 23.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortrea

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Fortrea by 22.3% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Fortrea by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares in the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortrea during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Fortrea by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 12,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 2,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Fortrea by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296 shares during the last quarter.

About Fortrea

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.