Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD – Get Free Report)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $81.00 to $80.00. The stock had previously closed at $63.38, but opened at $61.58. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the stock. Forward Air shares last traded at $60.55, with a volume of 38,526 shares traded.
A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Forward Air from $84.00 to $75.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 1st. StockNews.com began coverage on Forward Air in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Forward Air from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.43.
Institutional Trading of Forward Air
A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Forward Air by 0.9% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,118,552 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $402,713,000 after buying an additional 36,722 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Forward Air by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,934,717 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $264,887,000 after purchasing an additional 25,141 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Forward Air by 18.2% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,753,799 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $155,754,000 after purchasing an additional 269,446 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Forward Air by 38.3% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,580,644 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $167,722,000 after purchasing an additional 438,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Forward Air by 3.1% in the first quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 1,229,373 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $132,477,000 after purchasing an additional 36,829 shares in the last quarter. 97.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Forward Air Stock Performance
The company has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 14.61 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.90.
Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The transportation company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.11). Forward Air had a return on equity of 19.06% and a net margin of 6.30%. The business had revenue of $413.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $420.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.93 earnings per share. Forward Air’s quarterly revenue was down 18.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Forward Air Co. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Forward Air Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 22nd were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 21st. Forward Air’s payout ratio is 23.47%.
Forward Air Company Profile
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 final mile, truckload, shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, customs brokerage, and other handling.