First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Purchases New Position in Forward Air Corporation $FWRD

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 15,126 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $371,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FWRD. Littlejohn & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Forward Air by 70.1% in the first quarter. Littlejohn & Co. LLC now owns 2,814,401 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $56,541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,159,747 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of Forward Air by 1,179.7% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 321,092 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,451,000 after acquiring an additional 296,001 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Forward Air by 28.9% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,230,390 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $24,719,000 after acquiring an additional 275,500 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Forward Air by 1,357.6% in the first quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 128,971 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,591,000 after acquiring an additional 120,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Forward Air in the first quarter worth about $1,843,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

Forward Air Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ FWRD opened at $19.66 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $605.33 million, a P/E ratio of -3.28 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.91, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.20. Forward Air Corporation has a 52-week low of $9.78 and a 52-week high of $39.89.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The transportation company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by ($0.24). Forward Air had a negative net margin of 6.86% and a negative return on equity of 40.36%. The company had revenue of $618.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $627.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($23.29) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Forward Air Corporation will post -0.72 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research report on Saturday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Forward Air from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Zacks Research cut shares of Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Forward Air from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.67.

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 shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, customs brokerage, and other handling.