Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 104,355 Shares of Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) by 53.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,519 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 104,355 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Forward Air were worth $3,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Goldentree Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Forward Air in the 3rd quarter valued at about $14,270,000. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Forward Air by 1,481.6% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 208,396 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,377,000 after purchasing an additional 195,220 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Forward Air by 73.0% in the 3rd quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP now owns 78,803 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,790,000 after purchasing an additional 33,261 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Forward Air during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,866,000. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new stake in Forward Air in the third quarter worth $901,000. 97.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Forward Air Trading Up 4.7 %

Shares of FWRD opened at $33.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.07, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $966.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.40 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.92 and a 200 day moving average of $30.85. Forward Air Co. has a 1-year low of $11.21 and a 1-year high of $64.33.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FWRD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Forward Air and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Forward Air from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Forward Air to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.25.

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.