Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $59.38.

KNX has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Susquehanna raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th.

Insider Activity at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total value of $1,703,061.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total value of $28,550.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,754,625.90. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Knight-Swift Transportation

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the 3rd quarter worth $70,185,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 309.7% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,068,323 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $53,331,000 after purchasing an additional 807,572 shares in the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP acquired a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,251,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the third quarter worth $26,775,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,075,449 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $219,870,000 after acquiring an additional 467,647 shares during the period. 88.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

KNX opened at $57.09 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 1-year low of $45.55 and a 1-year high of $61.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.70. The firm has a market cap of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.21 and a beta of 0.98.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.43% and a net margin of 1.59%. Equities analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is currently 87.67%.

Knight-Swift Transportation Company Profile

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.