Loop Capital Lowers Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) to Hold

Loop Capital downgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $53.00 target price on the transportation company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $63.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on KNX. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $54.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $57.77.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

KNX stock opened at $47.88 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $54.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.19. The stock has a market cap of $7.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.00, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.99. Knight-Swift Transportation has a fifty-two week low of $45.73 and a fifty-two week high of $60.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The transportation company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.38). Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 3.93% and a net margin of 3.04%. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, CAO Cary M. Flanagan sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $112,480.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,836.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Knight-Swift Transportation

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,494 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 25.0% in the third quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 1,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 7,215 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 2.8% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 7,542 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40,074 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,310,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

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.