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

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) saw a significant drop in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,400,000 shares, a drop of 7.4% from the May 31st total of 6,910,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,310,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.9 days. Approximately 32.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Forward Air

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FWRD. FMR LLC grew its stake in Forward Air by 43.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 243,189 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $16,717,000 after acquiring an additional 73,335 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Forward Air by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 440,405 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $30,273,000 after purchasing an additional 70,196 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Forward Air in the 3rd quarter valued at about $841,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 12.6% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 4,533 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 47.8% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 9,668 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $665,000 after purchasing an additional 3,125 shares during the period. 97.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Forward Air Trading Up 1.3 %

Forward Air stock traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $19.34. The company had a trading volume of 542,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,144,272. The firm has a market cap of $511.35 million, a P/E ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $18.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.52. Forward Air has a 1 year low of $11.21 and a 1 year high of $121.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The transportation company reported ($0.64) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by ($0.49). Forward Air had a net margin of 4.08% and a return on equity of 5.37%. The firm had revenue of $541.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $644.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Forward Air will post -0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FWRD has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Forward Air from $24.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Forward Air from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.43.

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.