Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) Stock Moved Down to Strong Sell by Zacks Research

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Fortrea in a research report on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Fortrea in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Fortrea from $19.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Fortrea from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Fortrea from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortrea presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.10.

Fortrea Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:FTRE opened at $20.92 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.16. Fortrea has a 52-week low of $8.55 and a 52-week high of $23.51. The company has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a PE ratio of -22.99, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $678.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $647.57 million. Fortrea had a positive return on equity of 10.72% and a negative net margin of 3.18%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Fortrea will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortrea

In other Fortrea news, CEO Anshul Thakral sold 99,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 316,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,069,830.52. The trade was a 23.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Fortrea in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,488,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortrea by 81.4% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,432,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,496,000 after acquiring an additional 643,000 shares during the period. Eagle Health Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Fortrea by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Eagle Health Investments LP now owns 1,307,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,317,000 after acquiring an additional 89,000 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Fortrea by 163.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,299,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,241,000 after acquiring an additional 807,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Fortrea by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 389,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,771,000 after acquiring an additional 82,059 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 supports the development and commercialization of healthcare products across a range of therapeutic areas.

Its services include clinical trial management, study design, patient recruitment and engagement, data management, biostatistics, regulatory support, medical affairs and post-approval services. Fortrea also provides technology-enabled and decentralized clinical trial solutions intended to help sponsors conduct research across traditional and remote settings.

Fortrea serves customers internationally, with operations and clinical trial capabilities spanning North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other global markets.