Short Interest in Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) Grows By 53.2%

Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,340,000 shares, a growth of 53.2% from the February 29th total of 2,180,000 shares. Currently, 13.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 899,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Forward Air by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,836 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $570,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 3.9% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,053 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 7.7% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 24,107 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Forward Air by 55.8% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 13,970 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 5,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 5.7% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 68,402 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,688,000 after purchasing an additional 3,715 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research lowered Forward Air from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Forward Air from $80.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Forward Air from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Forward Air currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.14.

Forward Air Stock Up 3.7 %

Shares of Forward Air stock traded up $1.11 during trading on Friday, reaching $31.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 990,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,462,230. Forward Air has a 1-year low of $26.35 and a 1-year high of $121.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38. The company has a market cap of $820.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 1.00.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The transportation company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.16). Forward Air had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 10.58%. The business had revenue of $338.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.96 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. Forward Air’s revenue was down 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Forward Air will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

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 final mile, truckload, shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, customs brokerage, and other handling.