Brokerages Set Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) Price Target at $56.38

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $56.38.

A number of analysts have weighed in on KNX shares. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup cut Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $56.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on 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.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Up 1.0 %

KNX stock opened at $56.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Knight-Swift Transportation has a twelve month low of $45.55 and a twelve month high of $60.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.07. The company has a market capitalization of $9.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 245.78, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.96.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 1.81% and a net margin of 0.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. Knight-Swift Transportation’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 278.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total transaction of $1,703,061.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total transaction of $28,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,754,625.90. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation during the third quarter valued at approximately $70,185,000. Interval Partners LP boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 8,520.1% in the second quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 1,293,011 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $64,547,000 after purchasing an additional 1,278,011 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1,728.8% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,330,934 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $66,440,000 after buying an additional 1,258,157 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 27.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,431,299 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $271,121,000 after buying an additional 1,176,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 309.7% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,068,323 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $53,331,000 after buying an additional 807,572 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.