Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) Shares Bought by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) by 13.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,391 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 4,691 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned about 0.15% of Forward Air worth $2,477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Forward Air by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 15,070 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $947,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in Forward Air by 3.7% during the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 6,964 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $479,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. grew its position in Forward Air by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 4,205 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Forward Air by 86.9% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 669 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Forward Air by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 4,533 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. 97.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Forward Air Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of Forward Air stock opened at $21.05 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.02. Forward Air Co. has a 52-week low of $20.99 and a 52-week high of $121.38. The firm has a market cap of $555.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The transportation company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $338.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Forward Air Co. will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on FWRD. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Forward Air from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 1st. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Forward Air from $80.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Forward Air from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Forward Air presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.14.

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.