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

Shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $59.38.

KNX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Susquehanna raised Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $67.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KNX. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted 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 purchasing an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 84.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 809 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 36.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in 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 last quarter. 88.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

NYSE KNX opened at $57.09 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a PE ratio of 78.21 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 0.85. The business’s fifty day moving average is $55.48 and its 200 day moving average is $53.76. Knight-Swift Transportation has a fifty-two week low of $45.55 and a fifty-two week high of $61.51.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.43% and a net margin of 1.59%. Sell-side analysts predict that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is 87.67%.

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.