Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Downgraded by Citigroup to “Sell”

Citigroup cut shares of Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) from a neutral rating to a sell rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $56.00 target price on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on KNX. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.38.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Down 0.5 %

Knight-Swift Transportation stock opened at $55.63 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $52.97 and its 200-day moving average is $50.94. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 1 year low of $45.55 and a 1 year high of $60.99. The company has a market cap of $9.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 242.40, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.93.

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. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 0.50% and a return on equity of 1.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 278.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Knight-Swift Transportation 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 transaction of $28,550.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,754,625.90. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation 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 corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KNX. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,935,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 9.0% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 263,033 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,131,000 after purchasing an additional 21,689 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 21.0% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 89,821 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,942,000 after purchasing an additional 15,600 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation in the first quarter valued at about $3,162,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 12.7% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 133,178 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,328,000 after buying an additional 15,040 shares during the last quarter. 88.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.