Brokerages Set Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) Target Price at $80.14

Shares of Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.14.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on FWRD shares. Wolfe Research cut 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, January 10th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Forward Air from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Forward Air from $80.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th.

Forward Air Price Performance

NASDAQ:FWRD opened at $24.52 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.73. The stock has a market cap of $646.59 million, a PE ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.98. Forward Air has a 52 week low of $24.49 and a 52 week high of $121.38.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $338.43 million for 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 prior year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Forward Air will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FWRD. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Forward Air by 12.3% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,836 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $570,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Forward Air by 3.9% in 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. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in Forward Air by 7.7% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 24,107 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,357,000 after acquiring an additional 1,730 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in Forward Air by 55.8% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 13,970 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,366,000 after acquiring an additional 5,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Forward Air by 5.7% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 68,402 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,688,000 after acquiring an additional 3,715 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

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 shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, customs brokerage, and other handling.