Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) Cut to “Hold” at Baird R W

Baird R W downgraded shares of Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Zacks.com reports.

FTRE has been the topic of a number of other reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Fortrea from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Fortrea from $42.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays raised their target price on Fortrea from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Fortrea from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $25.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Fortrea from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.00.

Fortrea Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FTRE opened at $21.67 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $19.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.32. Fortrea has a fifty-two week low of $16.53 and a fifty-two week high of $41.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a PE ratio of -6.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.18.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.02). Fortrea had a negative net margin of 10.99% and a positive return on equity of 2.00%. The firm had revenue of $674.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $674.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. Fortrea’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortrea will post 0.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortrea by 12.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Fortrea by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 572 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Fortrea by 2.5% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 23,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Fortrea by 2.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 41,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $825,000 after acquiring an additional 792 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Fortrea by 2.3% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 45,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter.

About Fortrea

Fortrea Holdings Inc, a contract research organization, primarily engages in the provision of biopharmaceutical product and medical device development services worldwide. The company operates through two segments: Clinical Services and Enabling Services. The Clinical Services segment provides across the clinical pharmacology and clinical development spectrum.