Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Increases Stake in Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,700 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Forward Air were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Forward Air by 122.9% during the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 1,070 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 590 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in Forward Air by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 11,354 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in Forward Air by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 12,601 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $406,000 after buying an additional 1,088 shares during the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Forward Air by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC now owns 20,900 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $674,000 after buying an additional 4,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Forward Air during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,140,000. 97.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FWRD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Forward Air to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Forward Air from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Forward Air has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.67.

Forward Air Stock Performance

FWRD opened at $31.14 on Thursday. Forward Air Co. has a fifty-two week low of $11.21 and a fifty-two week high of $41.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $901.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.31 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $32.08 and a 200 day moving average of $33.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.07, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21.

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.