Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.03 EPS

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The transportation company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03, Zacks reports. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 0.50% and a return on equity of 1.81%.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

Shares of KNX traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $54.84. 3,312,994 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,027,297. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 238.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.98. Knight-Swift Transportation has a fifty-two week low of $45.55 and a fifty-two week high of $60.99. The business’s 50 day moving average is $55.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is 278.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knight-Swift Transportation

In related news, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total transaction of $28,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,754,625.90. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total value of $1,703,061.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KNX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Susquehanna upgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $56.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.56.

About Knight-Swift Transportation

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides freight transportation services in the United States and Mexico. The company operates through four segments: Truckload, Less-than-truckload (LTL), Logistics, and Intermodal. The Truckload segment provides transportation services, which include irregular route and dedicated, refrigerated, expedited, flatbed, and cross-border operations.