Knight-Swift Transportation Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:KNX)

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 4,036 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 131% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,750 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on KNX shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.44.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

Knight-Swift Transportation stock opened at $55.82 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of 242.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $55.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 12 month low of $45.55 and a 12 month high of $60.99.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 0.50% and a return on equity of 1.81%. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 278.27%.

Insider Activity at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other news, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 30,729 shares in the company, valued at $1,754,625.90. This trade represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KNX. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the third quarter valued at $70,185,000. Interval Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 8,520.1% during the second quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 1,293,011 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $64,547,000 after purchasing an additional 1,278,011 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 1,728.8% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,330,934 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $66,440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258,157 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 27.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,431,299 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $271,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,176,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 309.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,068,323 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $53,331,000 after purchasing an additional 807,572 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.