Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) Hits New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $24.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Fortrea traded as high as $23.55 and last traded at $23.2750, with a volume of 799,558 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $22.42.

FTRE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Fortrea in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird set a $23.00 price objective on Fortrea in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Fortrea from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 10th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Fortrea from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Fortrea from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.80.

Insider Transactions at Fortrea

In other Fortrea news, CEO Anshul Thakral sold 99,869 shares of Fortrea stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total transaction of $1,913,490.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 316,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,069,830.52. The trade was a 23.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortrea

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Fortrea in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,488,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortrea by 81.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,432,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,496,000 after buying an additional 643,000 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Health Investments LP grew its holdings in shares of Fortrea by 7.3% during the first quarter. Eagle Health Investments LP now owns 1,307,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,317,000 after buying an additional 89,000 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Fortrea by 163.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,299,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,241,000 after buying an additional 807,081 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its position in shares of Fortrea by 26.7% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 389,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,771,000 after buying an additional 82,059 shares during the last quarter.

Fortrea Trading Up 3.2%

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $19.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.93.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $678.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $647.57 million. Fortrea had a negative net margin of 3.18% and a positive return on equity of 10.72%. Equities analysts expect that Fortrea Holdings Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

About Fortrea

Fortrea Holdings Inc is a global contract research organization (CRO) that provides services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. The company supports the development and commercialization of healthcare products across a range of therapeutic areas.

Its services include clinical trial management, study design, patient recruitment and engagement, data management, biostatistics, regulatory support, medical affairs and post-approval services. Fortrea also provides technology-enabled and decentralized clinical trial solutions intended to help sponsors conduct research across traditional and remote settings.

Fortrea serves customers internationally, with operations and clinical trial capabilities spanning North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other global markets.