Private Management Group Inc. Purchases 39,123 Shares of Forward Air Corporation $FWRD

Private Management Group Inc. grew its position in Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,184,883 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,123 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Forward Air were worth $18,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Forward Air during the second quarter worth about $37,485,000. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new stake in Forward Air in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $14,485,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Forward Air in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $8,293,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Forward Air in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,987,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Forward Air in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,535,000. 97.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on FWRD. Stifel Nicolaus set a $27.00 price target on Forward Air in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Forward Air from $29.00 to $25.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Forward Air from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Forward Air from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.00.

Forward Air Trading Up 6.1%

Forward Air stock opened at $17.65 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $558.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.98 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $16.06 and a 200-day moving average of $17.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.98, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.32. Forward Air Corporation has a one year low of $7.86 and a one year high of $31.17.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 9th. The transportation company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.21. Forward Air had a negative return on equity of 19.49% and a negative net margin of 11.37%. The business had revenue of $673.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.40 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Forward Air Corporation will post -2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Forward Air

Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ: FWRD) is a transportation and logistics company that provides time-definite freight and supply chain services. Its offerings include expedited less-than-truckload transportation, truckload services, intermodal and drayage operations, final-mile delivery, and other logistics solutions designed for shipments requiring reliable transit times.

The company serves businesses across North America and supports domestic and international supply chains through a network of terminals, transportation partners, and logistics facilities.