Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,982,873 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 63,322 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.61% of Forward Air worth $187,533,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Forward Air by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 803,393 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $50,511,000 after purchasing an additional 25,523 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Forward Air in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,281,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Forward Air by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 676,018 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $42,501,000 after acquiring an additional 4,648 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Forward Air by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 673,369 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $46,287,000 after acquiring an additional 45,912 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Forward Air by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 645,931 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $40,610,000 after acquiring an additional 203,597 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FWRD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Forward Air from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Forward Air from $24.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Forward Air currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.43.

Forward Air Price Performance

Shares of FWRD opened at $19.34 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $18.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.52. The company has a market cap of $511.35 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. Forward Air Co. has a twelve month low of $11.21 and a twelve month high of $121.38.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The transportation company reported ($0.64) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by ($0.49). Forward Air had a return on equity of 5.37% and a net margin of 4.08%. The business had revenue of $541.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $644.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Forward Air Co. will post -0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.