Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) Downgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong Sell”

Zacks Research lowered shares of Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report released on Monday morning,Zacks reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. William Blair upgraded Fortrea to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Fortrea from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Barclays upgraded Fortrea from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Fortrea in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Fortrea from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortrea currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.10.

Fortrea Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of FTRE stock opened at $20.92 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Fortrea has a one year low of $8.55 and a one year high of $23.51. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $18.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.99, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.93.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.05. Fortrea had a negative net margin of 3.18% and a positive return on equity of 10.72%. The company had revenue of $678.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $647.57 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortrea will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortrea news, CEO Anshul Thakral sold 99,869 shares of Fortrea stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $1,913,490.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 316,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,069,830.52. The trade was a 23.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its stake in Fortrea by 26.7% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 389,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,771,000 after buying an additional 82,059 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Fortrea by 6,010.7% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 14,910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 14,666 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in Fortrea by 22.6% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 18,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 3,417 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Fortrea by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 65,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after buying an additional 10,939 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Fortrea by 22.3% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares during the last quarter.

Fortrea Company Profile

Fortrea Holdings Inc is a global contract research organization (CRO) that provides services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. The company supports the development and commercialization of healthcare products across a range of therapeutic areas.

Its services include clinical trial management, study design, patient recruitment and engagement, data management, biostatistics, regulatory support, medical affairs and post-approval services. Fortrea also provides technology-enabled and decentralized clinical trial solutions intended to help sponsors conduct research across traditional and remote settings.

Fortrea serves customers internationally, with operations and clinical trial capabilities spanning North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other global markets.