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

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

Insider Activity at Fortrea

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTRE. Vanguard Group Inc. acquired a new position in Fortrea during the 4th quarter worth approximately $347,110,000. Boston Partners acquired a new position in Fortrea during the 4th quarter worth approximately $132,741,000. Gates Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortrea in the 4th quarter valued at $67,859,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Fortrea in the 4th quarter valued at $59,056,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter.

Fortrea Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Fortrea stock traded down $0.33 on Wednesday, reaching $23.47. The company had a trading volume of 421,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,125,612. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $27.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.10 billion and a PE ratio of -16.88. Fortrea has a 52-week low of $22.15 and a 52-week high of $41.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FTRE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Fortrea in a report on Thursday, June 6th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Fortrea in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $27.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Fortrea from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $36.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Fortrea from $36.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Fortrea from $33.00 to $27.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, five have issued 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 an average price target of $32.30.

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.