Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) Announces $0.24 Quarterly Dividend

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 24th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share by the transportation company on Thursday, December 7th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 21st.

Forward Air has raised its dividend by an average of 10.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Forward Air has a payout ratio of 22.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Forward Air to earn $4.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.5%.

Forward Air Stock Performance

NASDAQ FWRD opened at $65.83 on Monday. Forward Air has a 52-week low of $60.09 and a 52-week high of $121.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of 16.10 and a beta of 1.16.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 31st. The transportation company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $413.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $420.04 million. Forward Air had a return on equity of 19.06% and a net margin of 6.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 18.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.93 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Forward Air will post 4.27 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FWRD. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $110.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 29th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Forward Air from $84.00 to $75.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Forward Air from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 15th. Raymond James lowered shares of Forward Air from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 11th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Forward Air from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Forward Air has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Forward Air

In related news, COO Chris C. Ruble bought 1,433 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $69.77 per share, for a total transaction of $99,980.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 28,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,972,816.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, COO Chris C. Ruble bought 1,433 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $69.77 per share, for a total transaction of $99,980.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 28,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,972,816.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kyle R. Mitchin purchased 1,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $68.63 per share, for a total transaction of $75,012.59. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 18,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,296,832.48. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 2,841 shares of company stock worth $195,358 over the last three months. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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 final mile, truckload, shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, customs brokerage, and other handling.