Prudential Financial Inc. Raises Position in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) by 20.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 25,364 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,227 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation were worth $1,345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 61.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 20,109 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,085,000 after acquiring an additional 7,666 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario purchased a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the third quarter worth about $289,000. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 71.1% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,201 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 43.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 80,992 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,370,000 after buying an additional 24,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 30,408 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,641,000 after buying an additional 1,407 shares during the period. 88.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KNX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup upgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $67.00 to $54.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.24.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of KNX opened at $39.01 on Friday. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.69 and a 1 year high of $61.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.79. The firm has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.44 and a beta of 1.16.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were 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 yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is 98.63%.

Insider Activity

In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, Director Douglas L. Col acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $45.37 per share, for a total transaction of $226,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $226,850. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 3.00% 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.