Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) Short Interest Update

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,700,000 shares, a growth of 10.8% from the March 15th total of 3,340,000 shares. Approximately 15.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 970,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Forward Air Stock Up 2.9 %

FWRD opened at $25.22 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $32.79 and a 200-day moving average of $52.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $665.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.98. Forward Air has a 1-year low of $24.11 and a 1-year high of $121.38.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The transportation company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $338.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.96 million. Forward Air had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 15.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Forward Air will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FWRD. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Forward Air from $80.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research cut Forward Air from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com cut Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Forward Air from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.14.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cim Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Forward Air by 3.6% during the first quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,541 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Forward Air by 1.5% during the first quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 9,202 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $992,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its stake in Forward Air by 7.1% during the second quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 2,428 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in Forward Air by 39.5% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 653 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Forward Air by 3.9% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,053 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $495,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. 97.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.