Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys Shares of 284,896 Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 284,896 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,111,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.18% of Knight-Swift Transportation at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KNX. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 88.7% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 685 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 84.3% during 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. Quarry LP increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 71.1% during 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. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,254 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,335 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Susquehanna raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $48.00 to $67.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Raymond James upped 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.41.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Douglas L. Col purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $45.37 per share, with a total value of $226,850.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $226,850. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

NYSE KNX opened at $46.36 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $52.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.54. 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 company has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 63.50 and a beta of 0.97. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.95 and a 1 year high of $61.51.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, analysts predict that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This is an increase from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.63%.

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.