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

Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $8.42 and last traded at $8.74, with a volume of 1726331 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $9.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTRE has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $12.00 price target on shares of Fortrea in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Fortrea from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on Fortrea from $25.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortrea in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup cut Fortrea from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $23.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fortrea presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.00.

Fortrea Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $788.35 million, a PE ratio of -2.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.34. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.70.

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

Insider Activity at Fortrea

In other Fortrea news, CEO Thomas Pike sold 11,268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,029 shares of company stock worth $226,168. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortrea

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTRE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Fortrea by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 364,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,288,000 after acquiring an additional 63,766 shares in the last quarter. Starboard Value LP boosted its stake 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 valued at $168,000,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Fortrea by 7.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,250,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,014,000 after purchasing an additional 233,577 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Fortrea by 25.0% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,135,619 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,712,000 after buying an additional 227,109 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Fortrea by 5.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 590,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,809,000 after buying an additional 29,285 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.