Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) Stock Short Interest Falls 38.9%

Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 7,675,846 shares, a decrease of 38.9% from the September 30th total of 12,564,688 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,888,678 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.1 days. Approximately 8.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity at Fortrea

In other Fortrea news, CEO Anshul Thakral sold 99,869 shares of Fortrea stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $1,913,490.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 316,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,069,830.52. The trade was a 23.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Fortrea during the second quarter worth $41,488,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortrea by 81.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,432,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,496,000 after purchasing an additional 643,000 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Health Investments LP lifted its holdings in Fortrea by 7.3% during the first 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 position in Fortrea by 163.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,299,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,241,000 after buying an additional 807,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Fortrea by 26.7% in the second 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 period.

Fortrea Stock Up 3.8%

Fortrea stock traded up $0.76 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $20.78. 566,752 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,558,259. The firm has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Fortrea has a 1 year low of $8.55 and a 1 year high of $26.16. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.76.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.06. Fortrea had a positive return on equity of 10.72% and a negative net margin of 3.18%. The company had revenue of $691.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $671.57 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fortrea will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FTRE shares. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Fortrea from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Fortrea from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. William Blair raised Fortrea to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $21.50 price target on shares of Fortrea in a research report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Fortrea from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.95.

About Fortrea

Fortrea Holdings Inc is a global contract research organization (CRO) that provides services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. The company helps clients plan, manage and execute clinical development programs, supporting the testing of new medicines and therapies from early-stage research through regulatory approval and post-approval activities.

Its services include Phase I through Phase IV clinical trials, clinical operations, patient recruitment and access, data management, biostatistics, medical monitoring, pharmacovigilance and regulatory support.