HighTower Advisors LLC Makes New $424,000 Investment in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,002 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $424,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,980,109 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $423,265,000 after buying an additional 506,491 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,201,276 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $221,541,000 after purchasing an additional 125,827 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,740,873 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $147,529,000 after purchasing an additional 46,436 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation during the 3rd quarter worth $70,185,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,175,335 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $62,340,000 after purchasing an additional 28,387 shares during the period. 88.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on KNX. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James increased their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup raised 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, Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $67.00 to $54.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.59.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KNX opened at $43.52 on Tuesday. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $42.47 and a 12 month high of $61.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.62 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last posted 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is 98.63%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Douglas L. Col acquired 5,000 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.00% 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.