Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Benchmark

Benchmark began coverage on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) in a research report report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $63.00 target price on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Susquehanna upgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James raised 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.59.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KNX opened at $47.93 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $54.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.96. Knight-Swift Transportation has a twelve month low of $45.55 and a twelve month high of $61.51. The company has a market cap of $7.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.66 and a beta of 0.99. 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 announced 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%. Research analysts predict that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. This is a boost from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,980,109 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $423,265,000 after purchasing an additional 506,491 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,991,354 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $370,819,000 after buying an additional 505,543 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 125,827 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,556,405 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $188,632,000 after buying an additional 63,241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,740,873 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $147,529,000 after buying an additional 46,436 shares during the last quarter. 88.77% of the stock is 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.