JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 285,465 Shares of Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) by 688.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 326,921 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 285,465 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 1.13% of Forward Air worth $11,573,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FWRD. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in Forward Air in the 3rd quarter valued at about $325,000. XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 22.0% in the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 19,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $692,000 after purchasing an additional 3,520 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP raised its position in shares of Forward Air by 73.0% in the third quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP now owns 78,803 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,790,000 after purchasing an additional 33,261 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Forward Air during the third quarter worth approximately $224,000. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Forward Air in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,866,000. 97.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FWRD. StockNews.com raised Forward Air to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Forward Air from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $47.00 price objective on Forward Air and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.67.

Forward Air Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FWRD opened at $32.23 on Monday. Forward Air Co. has a twelve month low of $11.21 and a twelve month high of $61.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $933.19 million, a P/E ratio of -1.35 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $33.51 and a 200-day moving average of $31.43.

Forward Air 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.