First Trust Advisors LP Raises Position in Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 26th, 2023

First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD – Get Rating) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 66,983 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 974 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.25% of Forward Air worth $7,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its stake in shares of Forward Air by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 3,190 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Forward Air by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 4,804 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $504,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Forward Air by 45.5% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 480 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in Forward Air by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 13,067 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,179,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in Forward Air by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,095 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $731,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on FWRD shares. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Forward Air in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Forward Air from $128.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Forward Air in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Forward Air from $138.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Forward Air from $123.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.20.

Forward Air Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ:FWRD opened at $97.19 on Friday. Forward Air Co. has a 52 week low of $84.04 and a 52 week high of $117.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $102.85 and a 200 day moving average of $105.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.00 and a beta of 1.13.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The transportation company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.07. Forward Air had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 27.50%. The company had revenue of $427.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $460.54 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.57 earnings per share. Forward Air’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Forward Air Co. will post 5.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Forward Air Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 24th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. Forward Air’s payout ratio is 13.83%.

Forward Air Company Profile

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Forward Air Corp. engages in the provision of less-than-truckload (LTL), truckload, intermodal and pool distribution services. It operates through the following segments: Expedited LTL and Intermodal. The Expedited LTL segment provides expedited regional, inter-regional and national LTL, final mile and truckload services.