Willis Investment Counsel Purchases 1,138 Shares of Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE)

Willis Investment Counsel raised its stake in shares of Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 185,473 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,138 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Fortrea were worth $3,459,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Fortrea by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Fortrea by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 41,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $825,000 after purchasing an additional 792 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortrea by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 97,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Fortrea by 102.4% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,398 shares during the period. Finally, Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortrea in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortrea

In other Fortrea news, CEO Thomas Pike sold 11,268 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.04, for a total transaction of $203,274.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,868 shares in the company, valued at $2,884,018.72. This trade represents a 6.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fortrea Stock Performance

FTRE opened at $16.81 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.92, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $19.31 and a 200 day moving average of $20.66. Fortrea Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.30 and a fifty-two week high of $41.02. 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 posted its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $674.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $674.86 million. Fortrea had a negative net margin of 10.99% and a positive return on equity of 2.00%. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortrea Holdings Inc. will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on FTRE. Baird R W downgraded shares of Fortrea from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on Fortrea from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Fortrea from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Robert W. Baird downgraded Fortrea from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Fortrea from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.30.

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.