Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) Hits New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $9.20 and last traded at $9.26, with a volume of 1955091 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $9.64.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FTRE. Baird R W cut Fortrea from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortrea in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Robert W. Baird set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Fortrea in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup cut shares of Fortrea from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Fortrea from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.00.

Fortrea Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.91. The firm has a market cap of $791.05 million, a PE ratio of -2.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.34.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.18). Fortrea had a negative net margin of 10.99% and a positive return on equity of 2.00%. The firm had revenue of $697.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $703.22 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Fortrea Holdings Inc. will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Thomas Pike sold 11,268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.04, for a total transaction of $203,274.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,868 shares in the company, valued at $2,884,018.72. This trade represents a 6.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 13,029 shares of company stock valued at $226,168 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortrea

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Fortrea by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,884,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $184,341,000 after buying an additional 120,599 shares during the period. Starboard Value LP boosted its holdings in shares of Fortrea by 5.0% during the third quarter. Starboard Value LP now owns 8,400,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,000,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortrea by 67.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,086,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,819,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265,402 shares during the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. increased its holdings in Fortrea by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 6,908,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,161,000 after purchasing an additional 158,044 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Fortrea by 5,021,169.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,125,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,519,000 after purchasing an additional 6,125,827 shares during the period.

Fortrea Company Profile

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.