Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $59.41.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Benchmark assumed coverage on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $63.00 price target on the stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Douglas L. Col bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $45.37 per share, for a total transaction of $226,850.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $226,850. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,980,109 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $423,265,000 after acquiring an additional 506,491 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,991,354 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $370,819,000 after acquiring an additional 505,543 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,201,276 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $221,541,000 after acquiring an additional 125,827 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,556,405 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $188,632,000 after buying an additional 63,241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,740,873 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $147,529,000 after buying an additional 46,436 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE KNX opened at $47.06 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $52.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.58. The company has a market cap of $7.62 billion, a PE ratio of 64.46 and a beta of 0.97. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 52-week low of $44.95 and a 52-week high of $61.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 0.85.

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

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.63%.

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.