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 note published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $63.00 target price on the transportation company’s stock.

KNX has been the topic of several other reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James raised their price target 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. Susquehanna upgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $67.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.59.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Down 2.4 %

NYSE:KNX opened at $47.93 on Tuesday. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 12-month low of $45.55 and a 12-month high of $61.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.66 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.96.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. This is an increase from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is currently 98.63%.

Institutional Trading of Knight-Swift Transportation

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KNX. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the third quarter valued at about $70,185,000. Interval Partners LP increased its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 320.7% in the fourth quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 1,754,822 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $93,076,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337,727 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,839,000. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,355,000. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 59.5% during the fourth quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 1,435,562 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $76,142,000 after buying an additional 535,518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.77% 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.