Short Interest in Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) Increases By 10.9%

Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,970,000 shares, an increase of 10.9% from the May 31st total of 8,090,000 shares. Currently, 10.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,260,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on FTRE. Baird R W upgraded shares of Fortrea from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Fortrea from $33.00 to $27.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Fortrea in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Fortrea from $43.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Fortrea from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $45.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortrea presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.30.

Fortrea Price Performance

Shares of Fortrea stock traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $23.47. The stock had a trading volume of 421,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,125,612. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $27.82 and its 200 day moving average is $32.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion and a PE ratio of -16.88. Fortrea has a twelve month low of $22.15 and a twelve month high of $41.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter. Fortrea had a positive return on equity of 4.76% and a negative net margin of 4.11%. The company had revenue of $662.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $754.58 million. The business’s revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Fortrea will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortrea

In other Fortrea news, CEO Thomas Pike purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $24.81 per share, with a total value of $248,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,434,687.87. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Fortrea news, General Counsel James S. Hanson purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.30 per share, with a total value of $50,600.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 7,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $189,117.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Thomas Pike purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $24.81 per share, with a total value of $248,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,687.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortrea

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FTRE. Vanguard Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortrea in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $347,110,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Fortrea in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $132,741,000. Gates Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortrea in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $67,859,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Fortrea in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,056,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Fortrea by 4,500.5% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 982,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,259,000 after buying an additional 960,865 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.