Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Forward Air Put Options (NASDAQ:FWRD)

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Investors bought 9,170 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 867% compared to the typical daily volume of 948 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Forward Air by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 755,843 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $24,376,000 after acquiring an additional 79,960 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Forward Air by 742.9% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 463,600 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $14,951,000 after acquiring an additional 408,600 shares during the last quarter. Goldentree Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Forward Air during the 3rd quarter valued at $14,270,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC raised its position in shares of Forward Air by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 380,947 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $12,286,000 after acquiring an additional 57,854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Forward Air during the 4th quarter valued at $11,140,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on FWRD. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Forward Air from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Forward Air from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.00.

Forward Air Stock Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:FWRD opened at $21.25 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $28.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.30. Forward Air has a 52-week low of $11.21 and a 52-week high of $40.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.07, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $615.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.89 and a beta of 1.08.

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.