Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) Rating Reiterated by Benchmark

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by research analysts at Benchmark in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on FWRD. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Forward Air from $80.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research downgraded Forward Air from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Forward Air from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Forward Air has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.14.

Forward Air Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FWRD traded down $0.86 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $23.14. 176,928 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 926,041. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $610.20 million, a P/E ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38. Forward Air has a 1 year low of $22.08 and a 1 year high of $121.38.

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

Institutional Trading of Forward Air

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Forward Air in the first quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Bfsg LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Forward Air in the first quarter valued at approximately $259,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Forward Air by 19.5% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 15,300 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $476,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its stake in shares of Forward Air by 19.0% in the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 11,097 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 1,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in shares of Forward Air by 18.9% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 18,761 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $583,000 after buying an additional 2,986 shares in the last quarter. 97.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.