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 covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $56.81.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James boosted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup downgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $56.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Down 1.0 %

KNX opened at $56.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 244.35, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Knight-Swift Transportation has a one year low of $45.55 and a one year high of $60.99. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.17.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.91 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 1.81% and a net margin of 0.50%. The business’s revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 278.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of the 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total transaction of $28,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,754,625.90. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Knight-Swift Transportation

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 87.2% during the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 747 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 28.6% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 900 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 168.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 923 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 36.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,145 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. 88.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.