Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) Holdings Raised by Clearlake Capital Group L.P.

Clearlake Capital Group L.P. boosted its position in Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) by 255.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,825,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 2,747,994 shares during the quarter. Forward Air accounts for approximately 6.5% of Clearlake Capital Group L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Clearlake Capital Group L.P. owned about 14.47% of Forward Air worth $72,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ridgemont Partners Management LLC lifted its stake in Forward Air by 172.7% during the second quarter. Ridgemont Partners Management LLC now owns 1,910,615 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $36,378,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210,006 shares during the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Forward Air during the first quarter worth $31,007,000. MFN Partners Management LP bought a new position in shares of Forward Air in the 2nd quarter worth about $17,208,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Forward Air in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,281,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Forward Air by 712.5% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 680,929 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $12,965,000 after buying an additional 597,120 shares during the last quarter. 97.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Forward Air Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FWRD opened at $36.64 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.70. Forward Air Co. has a 12-month low of $11.21 and a 12-month high of $79.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.56. The company has a market cap of $968.69 million, a PE ratio of 10.71 and a beta of 1.02.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The transportation company reported ($23.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($23.11). The firm had revenue of $643.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $642.92 million. Forward Air had a negative return on equity of 79.11% and a negative net margin of 30.77%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 92.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Forward Air Co. will post -1.01 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on FWRD. Wolfe Research upgraded Forward Air from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Forward Air from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research report on Monday, August 12th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

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.