Franklin Resources Inc. Takes Position in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 1,378,068 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,185,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 87.2% in 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. lifted its stake 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. boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 168.3% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 923 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 36.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 34.2% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,145 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total transaction of $1,703,061.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total transaction of $28,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,754,625.90. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KNX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Susquehanna upped their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.81.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:KNX opened at $54.92 on Tuesday. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $45.55 and a 12-month high of $60.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $55.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 238.79, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.96.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released 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 the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 0.50% and a return on equity of 1.81%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 1.05 EPS for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is currently 278.27%.

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.