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

Shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $59.41.

Several research firms recently commented on KNX. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Susquehanna raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and raised their price target for the company from $48.00 to $67.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Up 1.2 %

Knight-Swift Transportation stock opened at $47.06 on Tuesday. Knight-Swift Transportation has a twelve month low of $44.95 and a twelve month high of $61.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $52.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.58. The company has a market capitalization of $7.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.46 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

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 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, equities analysts predict that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.63%.

Insider Activity at Knight-Swift Transportation

In related news, Director Douglas L. Col purchased 5,000 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $45.37 per share, for a total transaction of $226,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $226,850. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KNX. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 88.7% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 685 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew 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 worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew 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 worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,254 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,335 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.77% 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.