Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Receives “Buy” Rating from Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $63.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on KNX. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $67.00 to $54.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.00.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KNX opened at $40.54 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $47.14 and a 200 day moving average of $52.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $6.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.53 and a beta of 1.16. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 12 month low of $36.69 and a 12 month high of $61.51.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.36 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is an increase 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 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is presently 98.63%.

Insider Transactions at Knight-Swift Transportation

In related news, Director Douglas L. Col acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $45.37 per share, for a total transaction of $226,850.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,850. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. purchased a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation during the fourth quarter valued at $3,021,000. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 30.9% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 69,907 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,771,000 after acquiring an additional 16,500 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,175,335 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $62,340,000 after purchasing an additional 28,387 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 21.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 653,238 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,242,000 after purchasing an additional 115,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New England Research & Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 199.2% in the 4th quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 29,625 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 19,725 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

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.