Forward Air’s (FWRD) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Benchmark reiterated their hold rating on shares of Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

FWRD has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Forward Air from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Forward Air from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Forward Air from $80.00 to $55.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Forward Air from a peer perform rating to an underperform rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $80.14.

Forward Air Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FWRD opened at $22.75 on Thursday. Forward Air has a fifty-two week low of $22.08 and a fifty-two week high of $121.38. The stock has a market cap of $599.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.01.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The transportation company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $338.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.96 million. Forward Air had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 15.30%. Forward Air’s revenue was down 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Forward Air will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Forward Air

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FWRD. Quarry LP lifted its position in Forward Air by 156.2% during the fourth 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 bought a new position in Forward Air during the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in Forward Air by 86.9% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 669 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Forward Air during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Forward Air by 306.9% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 948 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

About Forward Air

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.