Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) Stock Price Down 5.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) dropped 5.5% on Wednesday after Evercore ISI lowered their price target on the stock from $20.00 to $15.00. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the stock. Fortrea traded as low as $10.44 and last traded at $10.36. Approximately 607,294 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average daily volume of 1,351,364 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.96.

FTRE has been the subject of a number of other reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on Fortrea from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortrea in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Fortrea from $22.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup downgraded shares of Fortrea from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $30.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered Fortrea from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $28.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,884,018.72. This trade represents a 6.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,386 shares of company stock worth $219,751. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortrea

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortrea in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. PharVision Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortrea in the fourth quarter worth $345,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Fortrea by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 255,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,756,000 after purchasing an additional 5,691 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in shares of Fortrea in the fourth quarter valued at $388,000. Finally, Tang Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Fortrea during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,865,000.

Fortrea Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $927.05 million, a P/E ratio of -3.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.34.

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

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.